An early Microsoft online store. Debuting in 2004, Windows Marketplace offered both packaged and downloadable software as well as hardware. With more than 90,000 available products from many vendors, about 20,000 were downloadable, of which approximately 5,000 were free. Within a couple years, about 60,000 of the more than 150,000 available products were downloadable.
Requiring the user's Windows Live ID, Windows Marketplace provided a digital locker feature that unified licenses for downloading software onto authorized PCs. See
Microsoft Store and
Microsoft account.
Windows Marketplace for Mobile
In 2009, Windows Marketplace for Mobile was introduced for Microsoft's first smartphone platform (see
Windows Mobile). Three years later, it was superseded by the Windows Phone Store for the newer Windows Phone. See
Windows Phone and
Windows Phone Store.