MS to kill off Windows Mobile Marketplace

As Microsoft throws its considerable weight behind the Windows Phone platform, it is running out of love for its still-kicking Windows Mobile OS, and the company has driven another nail into its coffin, Tech Crunch writes.

According to a new e-mail being circulated to users, the Windows Mobile 6.x Marketplace will officially shut down on 9 May.

The move to kill the Windows Mobile Marketplace has been in the works for a while now - it began back in June 2011, when Microsoft revealed that Windows Mobile users would no longer be able to download apps from the Marketplace Web site.

The move is a milestone in a transition that has seen Windows Mobile's share of the smartphone market decline from 37% in 2006 to 3% last year, according to research from NPD Group, PC World reports.

Microsoft's new mobile operating system, Windows Phone, has yet to pick up the slack. It had 3% of the smartphone market in October last year, NPD found. Microsoft's Windows Phone app store has 65 000 apps.

Applications already downloaded from the old market will continue to work after 9 May, and some publishers might continue to offer their apps through other markets or their own Web sites, Computerworld notes.

It cautioned users that if they do a hard reset and delete apps from their phones, they won't be able to download them again from the Marketplace.