Windows Phone Developers get new App Hub and Market expanded to 19 more countries

Mango is not far off now, only a month left till Microsoft starts accepting Mango apps in the Apps Hub. As a first step Microsoft has officially rolled out the new Apps Hub portal which offers multiple functionality, enhances and also expands support to various other countries. App Hub is basically a portal for developers to manage their account, change settings, submit applications and stay up to date on Windows Phone development. For mango the following updates have been made to the App Hub

• More geographic markets for developers, consumers and advertising coverage.
• New private distribution options.
• Enhanced application and account management capabilities.

Here is an overview what what is new

Expansion

• Developers can publish their apps to 19 new markets now which are: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, India, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden and Taiwan.
• Developers from 7 new markets can now register with Microsoft as a Windows Phone Developer in App Hub: Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Israel, South Africa and South Korea. In coming months China would be added to the list.
• App Hub is now localized for Korean and Simplified Chinese in addition to English and Japanese.
• Updated Price tiers
• In App Mobile advertising for these expanded markets

Private Distribution

• Ability to distribute pre-certified apps privately to a set of 100 controlled beta testers for upto 90 days. The beta testers can be handpicked.
• Targeted Distribution: Allows the developer to release the app in the market in a hidden state and where the developer can share a deep link to the app with targeted users.

Enhancements to Application Management

• Better application management
• Enhanced developer dashboard
• More detailed reporting
• New ‘Crash Count’ report
• Streamlined application submission process: Ability to bul upload multiple artwork files at once
• New App Categories: Education, kids & family and government & politics have been added along with several sub categories

For an indept explanation for each new addition feature read this detailed blog post by the Windows Phone Team