A couple of tidbits coming from our friend Travis at Entertainment Connected (www.enterconnected.com), looks like not only are there some new apps on the Zune Marketplace, but the Marketplace is showing up in more places, including India, Belgium, and new updated content in Japan.

First, the new apps.  Travis spotted two new Zune apps, one a new game called BBQ Battle, and then in a quite interesting development, a new email app that closely resembles the email application on Windows Phone:

The app apparently only handles Hotmail, Gmail, and POP3 accounts right now, although a commenter on Entertainment Connected notes that it does support Exchange, but not Yahoo! mail.

Additionally, the Zune software Marketplace seems to have been recently upgraded in India:

Zune Marketplace has finally been launched in India. Microsoft hasn’t released any official statement on this yet. Now you can search the marketplace from the Zune software and buy / download applications inside Zune in Rupees.

and according to a commenter on the WPSauce blog, in Belgium as well.  Note that this upgrade only applies to the Marketplace, so still no Zune Pass, or free .mp3 downloads.  Another commenter at WPSauce also notes that the Zune video content seems to have been recently updated for the Japan market, too.

Before we get to the inevitable "see, Zune isn’t dead" comments, remember that our posts on Paul Thurrott’s and others’ reports have always made it clear that it’s the name, not the services, that are expected to go away, and we’re excited to see the Marketplace, and apps for Zune as well as Windows Phone, continuing to grow.