Issue with downloaded apps due to digital security certificates: Microsoft

Microsoft yesterday said app downloads from its online Windows Phone Marketplace might not work until it fixed a problem, users installing the new apps  might face.

"We've run into an issue with the digital certificates used to sign apps, and this is preventing some phones from installing some apps published during the last couple of days," said Mazhar Mohammed, a Microsoft program director, in a blog post.

Mohammed was not specific about the exact nature of the problem with the certificate system. Digital certificates make for verification of identities of senders and receivers of electronic messages and content, among other things.

According to Microsoft,  the issue affected only "a small percentage" of the over 100,000 apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace, which included The New York Times app, WhatsApp, and Bing Translator.

Also users with Windows Phone models who had upgraded from version 7 of the operating system to 7.5, also called Mango, supposedly experienced the error.

"It does not appear to impact phones sold with Windows Phone 7.5 preinstalled," said Mohammed. "We know what's causing the issue and are already rolling out a fix. Until that's finished we're going to temporarily stop publishing new apps in Marketplace."
 
Mohammed did not put a timeframe on Microsoft's efforts to fix the issue, but said the company is trying to resolve things "as quickly as possible." He added users of Windows Phone users would be better off leaving their devices as they were until the problem is fixed.