Windows Mobile app devs get similar deal to iPhone devs

The trickle of information about Microsoft's Windows Marketplace for Mobile increased substantially this morning as the company unveiled its developer program for the mobile app store. Microsoft today opened the Windows Mobile 6.5 developer program.

Developers will pay an annual registration fee of $99 which covers five submissions (selling more than five apps will cost an additional $99 each), and will receive 70% of the revenue drawn from sales in the Windows Marketplace for Mobile. The fees and revenue share are in the same league as those laid down by Apple with its iPhone Developer Program.

The store, (which still bears the Skymarket name in the URL) will be available in 29 countries, and Microsoft encourages developers to utilize their familiar programming languages (Visual C++, Visual C#, Visual Basic .NET, ASP.NET, and AJAX), and the existing Windows Mobile 6 SDK and .NET Compact Framework 3.5 to build their apps.