Windows Phone Marketplace is now the Windows Phone Store
We've heard rumblings that the Windows Phone website and Marketplace had been redesigned to give things a more friendlier approach. Microsoft has now made it official that they are rolling out these changes, globally, beginning with Australia and New Zealand.
The changes cover everything from how the Marketplace looks to a new name for our app store. For starters, say goodbye to the Windows Phone Marketplace and hello to the Windows Phone Store. This will bring our store in line with the upcoming Windows 8 Store, the Windows Store. You will also see the menu option on the Windowsphone.com website will shift from Marketplace to Apps+Games.
Speaking of menu options, you will have a new category on the Windows Phone site, News. The News category will provide a summary of what is being written about Windows Phones from breaking news to reviews.
New Windows Phone Store Categories and the Old
As far as the Marketplace...err...Windows Phone Store is concerned users will find a new search option that will rely on the Bing search engine to find your apps and games. It will take into account spelling mistakes, find similar apps/games, and app/games in the same genre.
Windows Phone Store Spotlight
Other changes include:
- New browsing/sorting option to include New and Rising, and Best Rated categories.
- Spotlight option that presents a mosiac of recently published apps chosen by the Windows Store's in-house experts.
- A mechanism to report inappropriate apps to the Windows Store has been added.
Microsoft hints that the changes rolling out to the various markets is only a start. We are looking forward to seeing the new changes and it'll be interesting to see what else Microsoft has up its sleeves.
Source: windowsteamblog; Thanks, everyone, for the tip!
