Windows Marketplace for Mobile, available through applications for Windows Mobile and personal computers, offers a 24-hour return policy for buyers, and 70% of each application sale will be paid to developers. A one-time $99 USD fee for developers to list up to five applications yearly in the store is charged by Microsoft. After the five applications have been listed for the year, each additional application can only be listed with another $99 USD fee. Microsoft accepts payment from buyers through credit cards and carrier charges.

Microsoft announced that students that are members of Microsoft's DreamSpark program can submit applications to the store for free, waiving the $99 USD fee.

Carriers also have the ability to create a branded section of the store to market carrier-specific applications and services for their customers.

Microsoft enforces certain rules before developers can submit apps to the Marketplace. Some of these restrictions include:

Rumors about the service began to surface around the internet in September 2008, whereas it was referred to as "Skymarket", and was to appear with the Windows Mobile 7 release. Rumors stemmed from an online job listing from Microsoft's website calling for a "Senior Product Manager".

On February 16, 2009, Microsoft made an official announcement for the service at the 2009 Mobile World Congress for use with upcoming Windows Mobile 6.5 devices. The company has since announced that availability of the service will be by the end of 2009.

The store opened for business on 6 October, 2009, featuring 246 applications.

On November 12, 2009, the Marketplace web application was opened.