Microsoft yesterday announced that it has begun to rebrand its Windows Phone Marketplace and revamp its official Windows Phone website. The Marketplace brand will make way for a new one that more closely aligns with Microsoft’s Windows 8 branding strategy.
Starting today we’re retiring the name Marketplace and renaming it the Windows Phone Store. By doing so, we’re following the lead of Windows 8 and its Windows Store for apps and games. The two even share the same Store icon.
The updated Window Phone Store website will also sport a number of improvements including a cleaner design, search powered by Bing, and new browsing options to make finding apps even easier. The latter will make it onto Windows Phone devices later this year. For example, the New+Rising list will be refreshed more often and will take into account how quickly an app is being downloaded while the Best Rated list will be based on customer ratings and actual usage patterns.
The updated Windows Phone Store is coming first to Australia and New Zealand. It will gradually be rolled out to other countries in the coming weeks.
Read more: Windows Phone Blog