Microsoft has rebranded its Windows Phone Marketplace, bringing it into line with its desktop counterpart and the app stores of other mobile platforms.

Users wishing to download apps to the software giant’s mobile OS will now do so through the Windows Phone Store, matching the Windows Store which has been introduced to match the new Windows 8 operating system.

The name is not the only thing that has changed, with the Windows Phone Store now featuring  an improved search function and lists which separate free apps from those which charge a fee for download, functions which Apple’s App Store and Google Play have had in place for quite some time.

No firm launch date has yet been announced for the latest version of Microsoft’s mobile platform but the firm is rumoured to be preparing to go live at the end of October, despite rumours that it is struggling to finish the software in time.

Nokia recently unveiled two Windows Phone 8 devices, the Lumia 920 and 820, at an event in New York, where Nokia CEO Stephen Elop took to the stage alongside senior Microsoft employees such as Steve Ballmer and Joe Belfiore.

The changes are to start rolling out to Windows Phone devices over the next few weeks, with Australia and New Zealand being the first markets where the new app store will be introduced.