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Microsoft is sharing new information about the Windows Marketplace for Mobile application store, in anticipation of its keynote address at CTIA Wireless 2009 on April 2.
During his keynote, Microsoft’s Robbie Bach, president of entertainment and devices for the software giant, will announce new alliances between Microsoft and EA Mobile, MySpace and Isaac Mizrahi.
EA and MySpace will describe applications they’ve created for Windows Marketplace for Mobile. Mizrahi – the first in what will be a series of designers creating exclusive themes, including color palettes and wallpaper – will demonstrate ways users can individualize their phones.
Microsoft additionally announced a raft of companies that have signed on to offer applications through Marketplace for Mobile. These include: AccuWeather.com, The Associated Press, CNBC, Gameloft, Pandora, Netflix and Facebook.
Mobile device users have proven their appetite for mobile applications, and Apple saw enormous success with its App Store, which facilitated more than 800 million downloads in just eight months’ time.
Following suit, Google has an application store for its new Android operating system, Nokia is at work on an Ovi Store, which will work in conjunction with its social networking services, and RIM has an app store in the works for the BlackBerry platform.
Research firm In-Stat recently predicted a quadrupling of mobile application store users within five years, bringing the number to 100 million users.
The growing popularity of mobile applications and mobile application stores – along with the growing numbers of users visiting them – has created a new category for advertising, “application marketing,” In-Stat reported, which has mobile marketers delighted.
Microsoft additionally shared news that Windows Live for Mobile, Microsoft’s mobile suite of Internet services, will be available as a free download the first week of April, and that a new beta version of Windows Live Hotmail will be launched and available through mobile Web browsers.