Windows Marketplace for Mobile was a service by Microsoft for its Windows Mobile platform that allowed users to browse and download applications that had been developed by third parties. The service was available for use directly on Windows Mobile 6.x devices (versions earlier than 6.5 require downloading a free Windows Marketplace for Mobile application) and on personal computers. It was announced at the 2009 Mobile World Congress, and began operation on 6 October 2009, featuring an initial 246 applications. Initially it was available only for Windows Mobile 6.5, and was made available to older 6.x versions a few weeks later. On February 15, 2010 Microsoft announced its next generation mobile platform named Windows Phone; there is a separate app store, Windows Phone Store, for it; WM6.x a