Microsoft announced Windows Phone 8 officially last week, and with the official announcement Microsoft is revealing details about the Windows Phone 8 platform on it’s Windows Phone blog.

At the time of the announcement Microsoft said, it is expanding the Windows Phone marketplace to 180 countries, today they revealed the list of countries Windows Phone 8 is launching. See the below picture to see the list of 180 countries that will have access to Windows Phone 8 marketplace.

Previously WP app marketplace is available in 63 countries, the recent number is nearly three times the previous one. Another good news for developers today is that Developers from all these countries can submit apps to the marketplace via App Hub, previously only 38 markets are supported.

Finally In-app purchasing is coming to Windows Phone marketplace along with the launch of Windows phone 8. Both Android and iOS offer in-app purchases. With the Windows Phone In-app purchases developers will be able to offer virtual goods and services with in the app.

Microsoft says in the blog post that both the marketplace and App Hub were rebuilt from the ground up to be more robust and scalable. This translates to faster certification, publishing times and better reporting options.

Via Windows Phone blog