Windows Phone Marketplace is shut to users

DISGRUNTLED USERS have been locked out of the Windows Phone Marketplace for perhaps as long as twenty hours, however Microsoft has been unable to adequately explain why.

In a blog post Microsoft responded to user complaints with a simple message, "Just wanted to let you know that we're investigating reports that some people are having problems downloading apps from Windows Phone Marketplace."

The fact that most people trying to use it already knew this was apparently lost on the firm. For example, one user at The INQUIRER towers has been shut out for over twenty hours.

Microsoft added, "The root cause of this issue has been identified and steps are being taken to help prevent future disruptions to the Marketplace service."

We asked Microsoft for more information on the problem, including the rumoured suggestion that it was related to the recent Nodo update that brought copy and paste functionality to the Windows Phone 7 operating system.

In a response it provided straight from the vanilla section of its PR team, Microsoft said, "We have received reports that customers are having problems accessing Windows Phone marketplace. We are investigating these reports and will provide an update when we have more to share."

Microsoft has also announced its Bing Maps IOS software development kit (SDK). In an attempt to compete with Google Maps the SDK supports Bing's road, aerial and hybrid aerial map styles.

It also has the "ability to add pushpins to the maps and access the user's location via the GPS to locate the phone on the map." µ