It was in August of last year when we first heard about the Windows Mobile app store, and now, its official launch will be happening soon. Dubbed as the Windows Marketplace, Microsoft has announced that they will be accepting app submissions coming from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong SAR, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, New Zealand, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and the United States beginning July 27th. Windows Marketplace itself will be launched later this fall alongside Windows Mobile 6.5.

[via windows blog]
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Windows Mobile 6.0 and 6.1 users, however, need not worry as they’ve assured us that Windows Marketplace will be available for these devices before 2009 comes to a close. To further emphasize their commitment to the business community, they’ve created the Business Center section in Marketplace wherein their partners can showcase their latest business application tools. Likewise, in order to as many developers on-board Windows Marketplace as they can, Microsoft will also be launching a developer contest on the 27th as well. More details about the contest will be made available on the said day.

Can Windows Marketplace equal or even surpass the success of the Apple App Store? Microsoft’s got the necessary tools to do it, but it will eventually be up to the consumer and the developers who will be seeking to put their apps for distribution at the Marketplace that will ultimately spell success or failure for the Windows Mobile app store. However, it won’t be easy as they’ve now got new rivals to contend with in the form of the Android phones and Palm Pre smartphone each with their own app store now up and running apart from Nokia and Apple.