Windows Mobile Marketplace, free application updates

We have criticised the way in which Microsoft was proposing to deal with developers in the new Marketplace mainly because of the structure of charging developers to submit updates to their applications as we felt that it would stifle improvements to apps. Well the good news is The Marketplace team have just announced some more details around the ‘Windows Marketplace for Mobile’ which has put to rest the fears of this happening. This is what they have to say:-

Q: Do I need to pay the $99 fee again to submit an application update?

A: No, if your application has been previously certified and published in the catalog, you can submit subsequent updates without incurring any additional fees. The application update will be made available through Windows Marketplace to all customers that have downloaded your application in the past.

Q: I previously heard that you only had 7 days to submit a free update. Has this changed?

A: Yes, we originally communicated that only application updates submitted within 7 days of their publish date would benefit from a free submission. After talking to the developer community and better understanding the dynamics and frequency of application updates, we have decided to extend the original 7-day window and make it permanent. This means that if an application has been previously approved in the marketplace the developer can submit updates to it without incurring any additional fees.

via blogs.msdn and msmobiles