Marketplace, Microsoft's application store based on its Windows platform, will open in China this month, the company said.

The store will be opened directly to Chinese developers for publishing their applications. There are now more than 35,000 applications in Microsoft's Marketplace, only 3 percent of which are provided by Chinese developers.

The company says Marketplace's opening in China will pave the way for Windows Phone 7, Microsoft's smart phone operating system competing with Google's Android and Apple's IOS, to enter the Chinese market soon.

By Liang Yi