Microsoft Ditches Zune Desktop App Purchasing

Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system may not be particularly popular, but it's nice to see that the company keeps trying to tweak the operating system to gain traction. Microsoft is set to make some changes to the marketplace for Windows Phone. One of the changes is that the Zune Desktop software will no longer allow the user to browse through apps and purchase them.

Rather, users of Windows Phone will now have to purchase apps via web browser or directly on the phone. The Zune software will still be used to update the smartphone OS. I wonder what percentage of Windows Phone users purchased their apps via the Zune software rather than directly on the phone.

Microsoft says that most users are purchasing apps directly on the phone or over the Internet so eliminating purchases via the software may not be that big of a deal. Something that could affect some users is that Microsoft will start requiring Windows Phone devices to run 7.5 in order to download, review, or update the apps on the device. Other than having to wait for the download, all of the Windows phone devices in the wild now should be able to upgrade without issue.

[via The Verge]