Somewhat disturbingly (since it's an easy computer science problem to solve), Microsoft is now listing applications and games in the Store on phones that don't err.... work on phones. In the last few weeks I've lost count of the number of new titles in the on-phone Store that say the title 'won't run on this device' and which show (e.g.) XBox and PC for their compatibility. So why the heck is the Store application, which knows it's running on an ARM-based phone, listing all these new titles for other chipsets?

As you might imagine, I do have a theory. But a few screens first, from the Store in the last 24 hours:

An easy way to see plenty of the new additions is to head into (e.g.) the 'top apps' lists, here picking 'New and rising'; (right) there are dozens of examples, but this will do. What is this x86/x64-compiled UWP app doing in the phone Store?

Here's the quoted availability (below, it also lists X86/x64 and build 10586 minumum); (right) another example at random. But - another question - why do these titles have actionable 'Get' controls on the phone?

We'd been used to the large banners at the top of the Store home being for PC or XBox titles, that's understandable advertising space for the best of Windows 10. But to have non-Mobile-relevant titles listed on the phone seems out of line. In many cases, even with a 'not available' (or similar) message, there's also a 'Get' button lit up. Tapping it quickly makes the button vanish, since there is, in fact, nothing to install, of course.

One theory is that this is all getting ready for the mass market availability of 'Windows 10 on ARM', i.e. the Store client is being simplified and is more relaxed as to which titles it actually displays, relying on the app to be identified as incompatible on non-relevant devices, rather than having everything filtered at the server end. Continuing this thought, maybe it's just to reduce server load? The 'working' 'Get' control is certainly just a bug.

I'll let Microsoft off if it does in fact mean that a) the Store is generally faster, and b) this is one of the preparatory steps to the release of more Windows 10 ARM-based tablets, hybrids and, yes, folding devices.

Comments? Is there a better theory?