Although the guidelines block most adult developer's plans, they can now work on apps for the new Windows Phone Marketplace that will launch in October when the first Windows Phone 7 devices are expected to debut.
Microsoft is providing the tech tools but the company’s reps are reminding developers to pore over the rules and regulations surrounding app approval and are likely to reject any submissions that even seem to border on sex.
According to reports some of the anti-porn rules prohibit “sex/nudity — images that are sexually suggestive or provocative" or content that contains nipples or pubic hair.
Also not allowed is “content that a reasonable person would consider to be adult or borderline adult content" or “content that generally falls under the category of pornography."
The guidelines also prohibit "realistic or gratuitous violence including depictions of ... decapitation, impaling, blood splatter, blood spurting, blood pooling or guns and weapons pointed toward the user or audience."
Microsoft warns that even content that “facilitates or promotes prohibited content” or facilitates prohibited content listed in the table of contents, will be rejected.
As for music purchases, the apps must include the Windows phone music marketplace as a purchase item and be able to have playback functionality if the music is purchased from any other source.
The company is also requiring that if an app depicts any mobile or wired telephone, handheld PDA, or any other data and voice communicator it must be either generic or a Windows phone device.
