MS Office 2010 Beta 1 Build Images Leak

Oops, they did it again! Folks over at WZOR.net have showed up screenshots of Microsoft Office 2010 build 4417 which is the beta 1 build of the suite. Screenshots leak of upcoming Microsoft products has become a norm now. The new beta 1 build of Office 2010 suite brings better Back Stage view and Upload Center to take documents online.
The Back Stage view is where information about the respective document is displayed in detail like that in the Office 2007. Document properties, version, statistics protection and other features are available in the Back Stage view. New Upload Center probably takes desktop's Office 2010 documents to Office live interface in order to enable accessing it from anywhere. Of course, there would be loads of other known-unknown bug fixes.

Here are few screenshots of the MS Office 2010 Beta 1 Build 14.0.4417.1000:

BlackBerry to Get Better Browser

If you have always been left wanting more from the current edition of your BlackBerry browser, you're prayers have been answered. RIM, the maker of Blackberry, has acquired Torch Mobile, a company that makes the Iris browser - a fully featured, webkit based browser for various platforms.

After the advent of the iPhone, which offered a superior browsing experience on the phone thanks to its Safari Browser, demand was on for a far better BlackBerry browser. It is only now that the demand will see fruition. The Iris browser team, who has been now assimilated into RIM will obviously help RIM design the next version of the Blackberry browser. To remain competitive amongst the latest crop of devices, RIM would obviously want the browser to be feature packed and slick.

RIM, who has traditionally been a big player in the enterprise segment, is gradually seeing a shift from being a "niche" player to one that has a mass appeal. For the same reason, it is now concentrating on other facets of it's phones apart from the e-mail side of things, which obviously works well. Web browsing, apparently, is a very big decider when tech savvy people go out to buy phones and sadly, RIM was a bit of a laggard in this segment. With help from the Iris Browser team, that might just change in the future! Before rushing to buy a Blackberry now, note that the "new" browser is still in development and it might be quite a while when even an alpha version is up for grabs. Patience folks!

Chandrayaan 1 Mission Terminated

After the ISRO lost contact with Chandrayaan, India's first lunar space probe, on Friday, the space agency has now announced that the mission has been declared closed.
The premature end to the originally envisioned 2 year mission came when the craft first reported issues related to its positioning. After being controlled with the help of Gyroscopes for over a month, the craft finally gave up and on Friday, lost all contact with the command center back in India. However, according to ISRO, the mission has already, in 300 odd days managed to complete 95 percent of the objectives assigned to it.

The Chandrayaan was launched on Oct. 22 last year aboard a PSLV C11 rocket and took over a week and half to reach the lunar orbit. Apart from being India's first lunar probe, it was also one of India's first truly "international" space missions with a number of space agencies including the NASA and the ESA providing payloads for the craft. The Chandrayaan has as many as 11 payloads from various countries. The mission was also quite frugal in terms of the money spent at just $82 million.

While it may have not lasted the two year period it was supposed to serve, it has no doubt given India the capability to launch crafts to heavenly bodies beyond the Earth's atmosphere. The launch of the Chandrayaan also generated a lot of interest as it happened at the same time when the world was celebrating 40 years of Neil Armstrong's first "Moonwalk". In the future, many countries have plans to send manned and unnamed crafts to the moon. These include U.S., China, India and South Korea. In fact, India is already working on the Chandrayaan 2, which is expected, to land on the moon sometime in 2013. That mission apart from having a lunar orbiter will send a lunar rover to the surface of the moon from where it can collect and analyze lunar soil and rock.

As for the Chandrayaan 1, the mission already has collected over 70,000 images all of which are being analyzed. The craft will take another 1,000 days and it will eventually crash on to the lunar surface after that. While the mission ending prematurely will remain a disappoint to many, it is pertinent to note that it did manage to accomplish 95 percent of the objectives assigned to it - besides, sending a craft to the moon is no cakewalk.

Asus Laptops to have Intel CPUs Inside

Asus is expected to launch two ultra-thin laptops with Intel's upcoming 45nm CPUs inside on Sept. 7. The new Asus ultra-thin laptop models are expected to ship in China, Europe and Taiwan reported DigiTimes.
Intel's two microprocessors - Intel Celeron 743 and Intel SU2300 processors, are priced at $107 (Rs. 5,150 approx.) and $134 (Rs. 6,450 approx.) respectively, in thousand-unit tray quantities.

These new Intel microprocessors are targeted at entry level market. Asustek president Jerry Shen had noted that ultra-thin laptops will constitute 10-20 percent of Asus' total laptop shipment in the third quarter of 2009.

Asus' close competitors MSI and Acer are also planning to launch its new ultra-thin notebooks soon after Asus does. Probably, MSI would bring more X-Slim ultra-thin laptop models.

The ultra-thin notebooks will so become the new segment between the netbooks and entry level but thick-heavy laptops.

China gets the iPhone Officially

As if we didn't know. Anyway, since it has now become official, let us confirm that Apple's iPhone will finally reach the massive Chinese market later this year on the China Unicom Network.
The Chinese operator, in a recent earnings announcement, confirmed the rumors. A part of the earnings report goes like this:- "On Aug. 28, the company and Apple reached a three-year agreement for the company to sell iPhone in China. The initial launch is expected to be in the fourth calendar quarter of 2009. This will provide users with brand new communication and information experience."

With over 135 million users, China Unicom is one of the world's biggest mobile phone operators and for the same reason, the iPhone now gets a whole new untapped market at its disposal. All China bound iPhones will come crippled with Wi-Fi as required by the law in China. To make the phone affordable to the masses, China Unicom will also offer subsidies to users who wish to buy the device. However, no announcement regarding the level of the subsidy has been made so far.

If all goes well, the Chinese would be seen flaunting their iPhones by October. Oh and it will be getting both the version the normal iPhone 3G and the latest 3GS version.

Motorola Android Devices Coming Sept. 10

Motorola has finally woken up from its deep slumber and seems all set to release its Android based handsets very soon, if we go by recent reports.
Yes, we have heard about the imminent release of Motorola's Android handsets since ages now, but this one has turned official! The company has issued invitations for a press event for what is arguably an Android centric event. As for the rumors about Motorola's Android based phones, we're referring to the much talked about Sholes concept (which mind you, is a sexy, cool looker) and the rather straightforward looking Morrison. What we do not know is whether Motorola is announcing one of the two above mentioned handsets or both together. Why? They might announce an entirely new handset as well! We never know!

So, all eyes have turned towards this scheduled event on Sept. 10, at San Francisco. This would incidentally just a week after the Nokia World 09 event at Barcelona. September looks all set to be ONE busy month for all us mobile phone enthusiasts!

N97 Mini Official Image Out

If it was the turn of the N900 to be revealed in its official livery yesterday, the smaller, nimbler version of the N97 is in the limelight today for the same reason. Please note that, in both the cases, it's not Nokia who has revealed these images officially. However, looking at the picture, it looks like an image created for promotional purposes.

As for the N97 Mini, which has been more or less confirmed, the device might just make its official appearance during Nokia World 09. The same will be the case for the Maemo 5 based Internet tablet - the N900 that we talked about yesterday. The N97 has already been given a "first look" treatment by Eldar Murtazin of Mobile Review (Yet again) - which again confirms that this one is just awaiting the official go ahead.

We have seen so much of these two phones that it fails to excite us even slightly now. C'mon Nokia, let's just make this official now.

RCom gets Wireless Internet to Villages

Reliance Communications (RCom) has announced the launch of a high-speed wireless internet service plan aimed at 500,000 villages. The company's rural initiatives include, BharatNet Plan, GrameenVAS and M2M (Machine to Machine) solutions.

The high-speed wireless Internet service - BharatNet Plan- will cover over 20,000 rural locations. RCom's wireless division president S.P. Shukla said that RCom's rural thrust would drive internet penetration across rural and suburban terrain and provide value-added services specific to the rural needs. BharatNet plan offers speeds of approximately 153 Kbps, which is 4 to 8 times the current dial-up speed of the wire-line services. It will be offered at Rs. 98 a week.

GrameenVAS will offer value-added services (VAS) to cater to specific needs of rural mobile phone users. Its services will include providing market rates, agriculture and animal husbandry updates, and weather forecast in Indian languages. These services can be accessed via different modes, namely Voice Portals, SMS, USSD, Data (R-World) etc. Grameen VAS is priced at Rs.15/month.

M2M applications will aid automation of agro- and irrigation services, water level monitoring, data gathering for milk and agri-cooperatives, fisheries, poultry, and soil analysis.

Is the Xperia X1 Successor Ready?

It's been quite some time since the Xperia X1 was launched and the poor thing though a great looker, has started to lose its sheen on the OS and features front.

We have been hearing the arrival of quite a few Xperia branded devices since a while now. The Xperia X2, X3 and even the X5 of late have made it into a few tech sites. Out of these, very little is known about the X5. As for the X3, it is also known as the Rachael and is an Android powered phone . That leaves us with the X2, which obviously becomes the successor to the X1, thanks to its Windows Mobile pedigree.

So, what we now have is this little snippet of information that says the X2 might just make its first public appearance next week. A press launch of the device has been purportedly "confirmed" by SEMC Blog. As of now, there is no other information regarding the phone apart from the fact that it would be WinMo 6.5 based and might get a significant camera upgrade from 3.2 megapixels to 8.1 megapixels!

We'll be keeping track of this one for sure!

Sony's New Cameras Fight Low-light Woes

Update: The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX1 will be available in gray color for Rs. 20,990 while the DSC-WX1 will be available in black color for Rs. 19,990 across all Sony stores and authorized retail partners in India.
Does low-light discourage you from capturing precious moments in your life? Sony claims it can fix your woes about dim-light photography with the 'Exmor R' sensor incorporated in its newest Cyber-shot cameras -- DSC-TX1 and DSC- WX1.

The "Exmor R" image sensors can gather more light, resulting in approximately twice the sensitivity compared to conventional sensors. This technology is meant to improve shooting in low-light scenarios, enhancing image clarity and drastically reducing grain.

The TX1 is a 3-inch touch screen camera with 4x optical zoom while the WX1 is a non-touch screen camera with 2.7-inch LCD display (230K pixels) offering 5x optical zoom. It features a Sony G lens with a wide angle 24-120mm.

Both cameras include the hand-held twilight and anti-motion blur multi-shot modes, the Sweep Panorama Mode, Anti-Motion Blur / Hand-held Twilight, 10fps at full 10.2MP, HD Movie mode (720p), Optical SteadyShot, and 9-scene detection iAuto mode.

With HD video capability, these cameras record HD movies in 720p high definition MPEG4 format for stunning large-screen home movie playback. Sony says users can record up to 29 minutes (or up to 2GB file size) in 720p format.

The TX1 camera will be available in silver, gray, pink and blue this September for about $380 (Rs. 18,138 approx.). The WX1 camera will be available in black this October for about $350 (Rs. 16, 711 approx.).

The duo shall definitely take some time to sail to India - when exactly, the Sony folks will let us know soon enough. Watch this space for availability and pricing updates.

Transcend's Eco-friendly USB Drive

Transcend has released a new Anti-Shock USB Flash Drive-the JetFlash V70. The drive is made out of a durable eco-friendly rubber that makes it highly resistant to survive shock, splashes and dust.
Transcend's JetFlash V70 is made of eco-friendly silicone rubber offering good protection while working, exercising, or travelling. For added piece of mind, the JetFlash V70 fully meets rigorous U.S. military drop-test standards (MIL-STD-810F 516.5-Transit Drop), literally making it one of the most robust USB Flash Drives available.

Additionally, the JetFlash V70 is equipped with a tethered cap holder that prevents it from getting lost when removed from the drive during file transfer.Currently available in 4GB (Purple), 8GB (Orange) and 16GB (Red) capacities, the JetFlash V70 carries lifetime warranty.

Transcend told Techtree that JetFlash V70 4GB is priced at Rs. 600, 8GB is priced at Rs. 900 while 16GB costs Rs. 1,700.

Xbox 360 Pro, Lite to See Price Cut Soon

A Target Ad shows that price cut will be levied on Microsoft Xbox 360

Pro 60GB HDD and Xbox 360 Elite 120GB HDD models soon. More than a week back, Kotaku had reported that Xbox 320 Elite price cut will align the 120GB HDD bearing model price in accordance with Xbox 360 Pro (60GB HDD) model.
The price cut is bound to come since Sony has announced new PS3 Slim. There's no official word on whether Xbox 360 Pro would be discontinued or would enjoy the price cut.

An image from Meijer catalogue stated that the price cut would be levied from Aug 30. At the moment, Xbox 360 Pro is available for $299 (Rs. 14,400 approx.) while the Xbox 360 Elite is available for $399 (Rs. 19,200 approx.). Now, Engadget showed screenshot of a new Target Ad that states price cut information about Xbox 360 Pro and Elite models.

As per the Target Ad, Xbox 360 Pro with 60GB HDD will be sold for $249 (Rs. 12,000 approx.) with a free additional controller worth $49.99 (Rs. 2,400 approx.). The Xbox 360 Elite will be available for price of $299 (Rs. 14,400 approx.) with $100 price cut from $399 (Rs. 19,200 approx.).

Social Networking Friendly Nokia 5230

Nokia

has just pulled the wraps off its latest touchscreen contraption, the 5230. If you were expecting some sub brand like XpressMusic after the model number, we're sorry! The 5230 is known as just the 5230. This one might just be the rare (if not the first!) "unbranded" generic touchscreen phone from Nokia in recent times. It is neither an N-Series, E-series or an XpressMusic branded device.
What it seems to be is a social networking friendly phone that of course, also offers almost all other functionalities that most devices of its kind provide. It's just that this one ain't branded that way. It looks quite similar to the 5800 XpressMusic and comes with location-based services as well. The 5230 comes in quit a few whacky colors as well.

It has a 3.2-inch widescreen touch display with full-screen QWERTY keyboard and handwriting recognition and unlike the recently announced 5530 Xpressmusic, this one is 3G ready with full HSDPA support. It is also Ovi Store ready right from the time you power on the device for the first time. It's no Xpressmusic but hell, it can play music and does it quite well we believe with a stated 33 hour music playback time. There is a 3.5mm jack thrown in as well. The internal memory of 70MB can be expanded with the help of microSD cards of upto 16GB. The only "issue" we see is the rather low end 2 megapixel camera this one will sport. If you do not care about the camera quality, this one sure is a nice 5800 XpessMusic replacement, should it be significantly cheaper than the latter once launched. As expected, this one is a Series 60 Fifth Edition device.

There will be two versions of the device - the standard one and a "Comes With Music" edition that will offer music downloads. The phone will be seeing an India launch as well soon. The phone will cost approximately 149 Euros (Rs.10,000) once launched. At that price, this would be a great buy. In fact, if Nokia slots this one intelligently, the 5230 has the potential to be a bestseller once it's launched in fourth quarter this year. Expect this one by October this year, if not earlier.

Official Pics of Nokia N900 Revealed

This makes sense. With Nokia World 09 just around the corner and with the official announcement of the Booklet 3G already done, the other major announcement expected was that of the Maemo 5 based Internet Tablet, the N900.
So, what we have now seem to be the first official pictures of the Nokia N900 "leaked" a couple of weeks before Nokia World 09 gets underway. While we have seen renderings and blurry spy shots earlier, the official, clear image does make the device look a lot sleeker. Lest you forget, the device features a full QWERTY keyboard and a huge 3.5-inch touch screen capable of WVGA resolution (800x480)

Also visible are the new Maemo UI bits which look sleeker and better than the current S60 versions. It was not long ago when bits of the new Maemo interface was leaked as well. The phone, it seems, will be positioned above the N97 once it's launched later this year.

Nokia's Booklet 3G Video Out

It was just yesterday that Nokia's first ever netbook (Nokia insists it ain't one) was announced. The Booklet 3G is a nice, solid looking, feature packed ... ahem netbook (Sorry Nokia!) as seen in the pictures.
Nokia had also posted a promotional video of the device yesterday. The video is actually a pretty slick one with a nice background score and a brief presentation on the features of the device. Arguably one of the best promotional videos we've seen in recent times, it remains to be seen if that turns the Booklet 3G in to a really nice machine. Nevertheless, you might want to check it out below.

Snow Leopard Ships from Aug. 28

Apple had pulled down its online store for some mysterious updates. The Apple Online Store returned with the announcement of Mac OS X Snow Leopard pre-order shipping from Aug. 28. All Apple retail stores, Apple authorized resellers, and of course, the online store are now accepting pre-orders for Snow Leopard operating system. However, this date is earlier than the Sept. 19, as announced at the World Wide Developer Conference 2009 convention.
Apple offers Snow Leopard as an upgrade option for $29 (Rs. 1,400 approx.) to existing Mac OS X Leopard users. If you're planning to purchase a new Mac, do take a look at Apple Up-To-Date program that offers eligible users to buy Snow Leopard upgrade for a mere $9.95 (Rs. 480 approx.).

Apple has temporarily stopped including new features in the Mac OS and has rewritten majority of the OS X code for refining the system performance and operational stability. Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard has packed a bunch of technologies that optimize the operating system to perform better and faster. Apple has already mentioned about the new improved features that included the Finder, QuickTime X with redesigned player, Safari and Microsoft Exchange support list on top of them.

Apple also included new core technologies like support for 64-bit applications, Grand Central Despatch for making best of multi-core CPUs and OpenCL support for accelerating App performance with help of idle GPU power.

Snow Leopard requires an Intel processor

based Mac system with minimum 1GB RAM. Check out the detailed requirements here.

ISD calls get Dirt Cheap!

Belkin has bought its rather weirdly named Skype phone to India, promising amazingly cheap ISD call rates.

The VoIP phone needs a WiFi connection to work and uses Skype to enable free calls to any Skype phone globally. If you have an existing Wi-Fi set up, this should easily amalgamate into your network. If not, you'd need need to buy one for around Rs. 1,500. The most amazing thing about the Skype phone is the ultra low call rates it offers for any ISD mobile number. How does Re. 1 per minute sound?


There are two versions of the phones. One is a normal desktop version and the other is the wireless WiFi phone that you can lug around wherever you go. The devices feature a phone book facility and can store up to 500 contacts. The phone is a boon for those who frequently make ISD calls or have friends who are on Skype and wish to talk for less.


Now for the flip side. The only bad thing about the WiFi phone is that it would be rendered useless once you're out of a Wi-Fi zone. Additionally, it only supports Skype, so yo only have this option for your calls. As an initial offer, Belkin is offering 30 minutes of free calling to any part of the world. The Belkin Skype desktop Internet phone costs Rs. 7,300 and the Wi-Fi phone can be yours for Rs. 9,712

iTunes 9, Facebook Integration?

Almost a week back, buzz about upcoming iTunes 9 integrating Blu Ray Discs, Social media and App organization support had surfaced. Now, screenshots of purported iTunes 9 beta build software depicts Facebook playlist integration and third party device support. The images showed that a new playlist can be created in the iTunes 9 and shared with a Facebook account. Also, the third party media player support evidence and chapter wise viewing of video files from VCD or DVDs existed.
From the leaked images grabbed by Boy Genius Report, it appears that a beta build of iTunes 9 has been screen captured. As mentioned earlier about Facebook integration, the new screenshots show that iTunes Playlist can be directly shared from the software. The shared playlist appears in the user's Facebook wall along with the iTunes link. So, either Facebook integration would be built in or Apple will offer Facebook Connect support.

The images also show third party device support as the in the image Samsung YH-J70 HDD MP3 player is shown connected to iTunes. This might just get Palm Pre owners wondering if Apple is going to disable support for Palm Pre Media Sync, especially after Palm released webOS 1.1.0 update.

Movies on DVD can be played Chapter/Title wise. Once the DVD info shows up, users can select the sequences they want to view. Also, in the full screen mode, one can jump between Chapters of the movie.

It should be noted that these screenshots might not be real and Apple may pull the support plug for these features. However, our eyes are set on the September event which Apple is expected to make slew of music related offerings announcements.

Macs get fixes for noisy 7200RPM HDDs and Bluetooth improvements

Apple has released new update for fixing issues in MacBook Pros with 7200RPM HDDs and Bluetooth issues. The hard drive update takes care of the noise when the hard drive platter's disc spins. This update is majorly for the drives shipped with MacBook Pro in June.
The Hard Drive Firmware update 2.0 (3.71 MB) is available for download form here. Follow the instructions for firmware update mentioned the updater application.

The Bluetooth update 2.0.1 (1.78MB) promises better Bluetooth performance with Apple Mighty Mouse and Apple Wireless Keyboard in the Macs with Broadcom chipset based Bluetooth. All unibody MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models as well as all other Macs included in 2009 have Broadcom chipset based Bluetooth module.

This Bluetooth Update 2.0.1 can be downloaded from here.

iPhone Gets Wikipedia Application

Finally! One application that would hopefully not create a controversy in the Apple App Store! The non-profit WikiMedia foundation has published the "Wikipedia Mobile" application for Wikipedia buffs with iPhones.
The application, like Wikipedia, is free and provides "quick and easy access" to all sorts of information. Well, that is precisely what the web version of Wikipedia does too. So, what's the big deal here? Well, the app is supposedly "easier to use" than the web version. It also bundles with it a feature of saving your Wikipedia browsing history for quick access.

While this is the official application, there are already existing apps for the iPhone that offers Wikipedia access with more features. However, adding more features seems to be something that would be taken up later. The primary focus it seems is to offer speed and simplicity to the application. The application will get new features in its future versions. The Wikimedia Foundation will keenly observe requests from users, and welcomed contributions from other developers and programmers as well.

Twitter Video Application for BlackBerry

TwitVid.com, an online service that enables you to upload videos to your Twitter profile, has announced the immediate availability of the first video uploading application for the BlackBerry platform. Along with this, the company also announced that it will power video for UberTwitter, the most popular BlackBerry Twitter app, as of now.
TwitVid for BlackBerry will allow users to tweet videos directly from their BlackBerry phone. All you need to do is to download it from the AppWorld, which incidentally has web version that was recently launched. This means you need not access the App World from the device itself. The application can be downloaded from here.

The procedure of uploading videos too is quite simple as explained below:

1. Open the TwitVid.com app

2. Select or Record a Video

3. Type a tweet

4. Click Post and let your video upload

5. People can start watching it within seconds

The technology that drives TwitVid.com gives users the ability to upload, view and share videos sooner than any other app. This is critical in the Twitter environment where people want to post as quickly as possible, but don t want to sacrifice quality, reliability and ease of use. If you're a BlackBerry owner and happen to have a Twitter account as well, why not try this one out?

BlackBerry to Get Flash Support

According to folks over at BoyGeniusReport, RIM is prepping up support for Flash and Silverlight to the BlackBerry web browser. Now, to be clear, note that we're not talking about flash lite and other adjustments . This is the real thing, full Flash support!
The not so exciting thing about this update is that RIM is still working on it . So, it will be quite a while until this one becomes a reality. The good thing, however, is that they have already started the preliminary steps towards this. So, the day when you will be able to watch YouTube videos on your BlackBerry as it is seems a few months away.

Currently, Flash support on mobile browsers is a niche feature found only on select platforms. Even the mighty iPhone is yet to get full flash support on its Safari browser.

iPhone 3GS can now Play 1080p HD Video

Apple's iPhone 3GS came with a fanfare and teased everyone with much demanded video recording feature. However, locking down phone's capacity has always been Apple's solution to maintain a longer battery life. Chinese site weiphone.com indicates that iPhone 3GS is capable of playing 720p and 1080p HD video encoded in H.264 format. One doesn't require to jailbreak iPhone since the built-in video player is capable of 1080p HD content playback.

A forum member of the Chinese website named fridtear used FileAid, a free document viewing application

to bypass Apple's restriction. Fridtear was able to play files of 1920x1080 resolution at up to 30 Mbps through built-in player iPhone 3GS. Apple's official iPhone 3GS specifications indicate that video of 640x480 maximum can be played on the device. The 1080p HD content playback wasn't smooth and at times it crashed. We thus assume that the code is not polished and the upcoming iPhone OS 3.1 software update might fix this or maybe lock this function in the iPhone 3GS devices.

Apple is probably aware of this function and would be working to either fix it or let it exist. We wonder if this HD playback has something to do with the HD rentals service in iTunes Store started in March. Probably like the iPhone OS 3.0 update brought purchasing movies from iTunes on iPhone or iPod Touch devices, the 720p/1080p video play back might be another step towards watching multimedia on the move.

SkyMarket to Feature 'Expensive' Apps?

It is a known fact that Microsoft is readying its own Apple App Store rival, the Microsoft Skymarket for its Windows Mobile users. While there is no doubt that the App Store business model works, one thing you might have noticed is the pricing of apps on the App Store. Yes, there are the occasional expensive apps out there, but most of them apps are affordable and available for cheap.
That, however, might not the same when the SkyMarket opens for business soon. Apparently, Microsoft has asked developers to price the apps "sensibly" according to what they are worth and not just according to the market needs. This is an obvious dig at Apple's App Store where most applications are priced at 99 cents, which is really affordable. However, Microsoft seems to think that people will certainly do not mind paying for quality applications. And for some, this strategy does make sense.

At a Microsoft development workshop in Redmond, Microsoft Mobile Developer

Experience Team member Loke Uei asked developers to consider pricing applications to sell 5,00,000 copies at $9.99 instead of a million at $0.99. The SkyMarket is expected to arrive later this year and Microsoft is currently accepting submissions for applications.