Microsoft has signed up multiple software partners for its upcoming mobile software marketplace, including Web music service Pandora, game publisher Electronic Arts and social site Facebook.
The Redmond, Wash.-based software company said it plans to discuss those partnerships and conduct demonstrations of the software store -- set to launch later this year -- at the CTIA wireless showcase in Las Vegas this week.
Apple started the trend for mobile phone application stores last summer and its offerings from third-party developers of software, ranging from the practical to the whimsical, have helped boost iPhone sales.
In March, Microsoft detailed plans to open Windows Marketplace for Mobile in the second half of this year, but had not announced software partners until CTIA.
Along with a list of initial partners, the company said it expects many of its existing 20,000 mobile phone software partners to offer software via the marketplace.
Other partners include Gameloft, weather website Accuweather.com and MySpace social networking website. The Windows application for social network Facebook will be the first to let consumers upload video captured on their phones directly to Facebook in April.
The apps marketplace will work on phones based on Windows Mobile 6.5, Microsoft's next version of its mobile operating system, also available later this year.
Microsoft also plans to make its marketplace attractive to carriers with options such as a share of software revenue, 70 percent of which goes to the software developers.
