Microsoft Windows Marketplace submission rule could be costly for developers

According to mocoNews, more details are emerging about Microsoft's Windows Marketplace, leaving some developers with concerns about Microsoft's interest in the application process.

After announcing that developers would pay an annual registration fee of $99 to submit up to five applications, according to the fine print in Microsoft's developer contract, these five submissions include application updates regardless of the size of the update.

After 5 submissions are reached, developers must pay $99 per application, meaning that a developer would be required to pay the full submission fee for any updates past the five included submissions. The technicality could prove costly for application developers fixing small errors in software.

A Microsoft spokesperson told the publication that "this process is to make sure that the end user experience is optimal, and that the device and network resources are not used in a malicious way. We believe that $99 is an acceptable cost of doing business, in order to gain access to a universe of millions of customers that are interested in purchasing your applications."