Microsoft's Windows Phone Marketplace is opening in 13 new regions this month, bringing the grand total to 54 countries. Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Croatia, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine, and Venezuela will all be treated to localized Windows Phone Marketplaces, allowing developers to release specific apps in different countries.

Although the 13 new Marketplace stores are available now, Microsoft did originally promise that 23 new markets would launch this month. UAE, Bahrain, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Israel, Thailand, and Vietnam Windows Phone users are still waiting on details of the promised Marketplace launch. Microsoft's Mazhar Mohammed says he'll "update you on timing for those launches once I have more details." The company also launched its Windows Phone handsets in China recently, opening the Marketplace with 20,000 apps and 15,000 registered developers in that particular region.