Microsoft's Windows Phone team is making a few changes to how users are able to acquire apps on their devices but luckily, they probably won't affect most of you. Starting today, users can no longer get apps from the Zune desktop software (the app store will remain for the Zune HD, as shown above), so they'll need to browse via the website or directly on their phones, which Microsoft says the majority of users were already doing. The other change is that in the next few weeks, any users who have not upgraded their handsets to Windows Phone 7.5 Mango will no longer be able to download, update or review apps. Since the update is available for all Windows Phones (Android, we're mostly talking about you) this shouldn't be too much of a problem, and any laggards will regain their access after upgrading.

On a final note, the developer blog mentions the software needed for hardware partners to create phones for Bahrain, Israel, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, UAE and Vietnam and that there will be more news on these storefronts "in the weeks ahead." With these moves, the squad has culled any reason to open a heavy memory hungry desktop program just to install some new apps from a PC (iTunes, we're completely talking about you) and devs can write off supporting users still running on old platforms guilt-free. All that in one day? We bet they didn't even have to use their AK -- those old zune:// links however, will be missed.

Microsoft cuts pre-Mango holdouts, Zune desktop software off from WP7 app purchases originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.