For Windows Mobile 6.0 and 6.1 Users, Marketplace Comes Later

Coming up in just a couple of weeks, a wave of Windows Mobile 6.5 devices will hit store shelves around the world and the doors to the WinMo app store, dubbed Windows Marketplace for Mobile, will open.

Microsoft has made it publicly known that Windows Mobile 6.0 and 6.1 users will be able to utilize the Marketplace, but not immediately. We've been in touch with Microsoft, and here's what we learned:

How will older devices get Marketplace for Mobile loaded onto their phones? Would there be a CAB install file available?

Additional details on using Windows Marketplace from a phone running Windows Mobile 6.0 or 6.1 will be provided by the end of the year. Stay tuned.

So that means for the rest of us not getting new hardware, it's going to be another couple of months before we can start gleefully downloading apps. This waiting period may give Microsoft some time to soft-launch the store and squash bugs before tens of millions try to access the store.