No More Windows Phone App Shopping from Zune PC Suite

No More Windows Phone App Shopping from Zune PC SuiteWell, it had to come sooner or later. As many users discovered the other day when Zune launched on their PCs, a message appeared asking users to restart the app to update the Zune client with new changes, Microsoft has officially nixed buying software apps for Windows Phone from the desktop PC Zune client. In his Windows Phone blog posting, Mazhar Mohammed stated

Until today you could shop for Windows Phone apps and games in three places: on your phone, on the web, and via the Zune software on your PC.

But we know—probably not a huge surprise here—that most Windows Phone owners browse and buy apps on their phones. The web Marketplace, which debuted last September on the Windows Phone website, has also become a popular place to shop, since it’s available from any Internet-connected PC or Mac.

Color me a Luddite, but I actually liked picking out an occasional app for my Nokia Lumia 900 from the desktop app. Admittedly, most of my shopping was done directly from the phone, but I did like the luxury of being able to check out software from the Zune app, and perhaps more telling is the fact that Apple,  much larger that Microsoft in the mobile market share, still after all this time allows users to buy apps from the desktop iTunes app and not online. A curious inversion.

Additionally, Windows Phone 7 users will be required (where possible) to upgrade their phones to 7.5 (Mango):

Second, as part of a larger Marketplace improvement effort, you’ll soon need Windows Phone 7.5 installed on your phone to buy and download new apps, or update existing ones.

The move likely helps Microsoft nip sideloading of .xap apps for unlocked Windows phones and perhaps clamp down a bit on piracy, since Microsoft has apparently been planning to encrypt the Marketplace for some time. A former Microsoft Silverlight developer that Nokia hired back in 2011 for Windows Phone development, Justin Angel was able to download the entire Windows Phone Marketplace contents via the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace developer APIs and study the Marketplace analytics  as he reported here, but noted that

Starting with Mango all WP7 XAPs downloaded from the Zune Catalogue are going to be DRM encrypted. So, Mid-August was a great time to start downloading the marketplace and perform freeform analytics. In the Mango versions of the Zune Catalogue XAPs are still downloadable, but cannot be explored since they’re DRM protected.

So, it does appear that a benefit of using phone or browser-only Marketplace access will assist in making Marketplace apps a more difficult target to copy, examine and potentially pirate.

That aside, Microsoft is confident that this change will hardly be noticed, but from my perspective it seems the Zune Marketplace removal is more an impediment than a benefit for the end-user. Unlike my Android phone where I could simply plug-in and drag and drop files willy-nilly, I do need Zune to manage my music and media, convenient to do while charging the device docked on my PC. So, why not just leave Zune an all-in-one destination? I personally like the idea of using my phone, the browser or Zune to get software I need, but perhaps I’m in the minority.

One final comment. A clever chap over at Den by Default has demonstrated a way for users of Zune 4.8.x to still access the Marketplace from Zune by modifying and setting up a mini-server. Ever the curious scientist-type, I followed his instructions, and lo, it worked, “apps for windows phone 7” reappeared after I relaunched Zune (may need to kill any currently running Zune launchers in Task Manager first, however)!

No More Windows Phone App Shopping from Zune PC Suite

Disclaimer: This Marketplace changing I did was more to satisfy my own curiosity, and I am not advocating everyone going out  and changing their Zune settings. Also, there’s a good chance Microsoft will remove this ability in future updates.

 

As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. If you are shopping on Amazon anyway, buying from our links gives Gear Diary a small commission.

About the Author

Gear Diary Staff
Gear Diary was founded on September 30, 2006, with the goal to create a website that would not easily be labeled. Everyone who is part of Gear Diary is a professional who uses technology in their work and daily lives. On this site, we share our enthusiasm while exploring the gear we use — the equipment that makes our lives easier, more entertaining, more productive, and more manageable. Our hope is that Gear Diary visitors find this site to be a welcoming, friendly, and accessible place to learn about and discuss interesting topics — and not only those that are tech-related! Gear Diary is a place to discover and explore all kinds of new gear, including smartphones, computers, kitchen gadgets, Toys, EDC, camping gear, or even your next new car! You can follow us on Twitter @GearDiarySite.