Windows Marketplace Opens Doors to Ancient Phones [Support for Windows Mobile 6 & 6.1 Now Available]

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If you’re one of those people not ditching their Windows Mobile 6 or 6.1 smartphones unless Microsoft launches Windows 7 then you’re about to get excited again about your old handset. Microsoft has officially announced that the Marketplace has now support for Windows Mobile 6 and 6.1 devices.

Just earlier last week Microsoft announced a PC version of Marketplace and now they’re ready to move forward. The mobile store will be accessible to older Windows Mobile phones. Windows Mobile 6.5 is far from perfect and not all Windows Mobile lovers will try it. And with “30 million devices worldwide”, Microsoft should definitely open the Marketplace’s doors to everyone.

Those of you that have a Windows Mobile 6 or 6.1 phone can simply point their browser to http://mp.windowsphone.com and download everything needed in order to make the app store work. Additionally you could run everything on your PC while customizing the Marketplace for your Windows Mobile 6 or 6.1 handset.

According to Microsoft’s blog, there are over 800 apps available in the Marketplace and there are over 1,000 more software developers registered with the store. Those numbers are incomparable to Apple’s App Store but the Marketplace is definitely growing. And with so many Windows Mobile users out there, making the store available to older OS versions seems like the smart thing to do. The only problem that I foresee is that developers will rather create new apps for Windows Mobile 6.5 phones and other platforms instead of focusing on previous versions. On the other hand all the existing Windows Mobile 6 and 6.1 apps could be ported to the Marketplace, but is there any real value in pursuing such endeavors?

The official blog post ends with a very positive message. The Marketplace will grow and it will offer us even more hot features. What it doesn’t say is that Windows Mobile is losing ground to Android right now, but then again, I might be exaggerating everything just a little bit.

What can you tell us about your Windows Mobile 6 and/or 6.1 Marketplace experience? Will you replace your current smartphone with a Windows Mobile 6.5 handset?