Windows Marketplace Now Has 30,000 Apps
Wednesday, August 31st, 2011As it struggles to gain ground in the mobile market, Microsoft has apparently reached a milestone of more than 30,000 applications in its Windows Phone Marketplace.
As of Tuesday morning, the website WindowsPhoneAppsList.com, a light version of the French site monsmartphone.com, devoted to Windows Phone, offered 30,133 apps for browsing, with 4,542 apps removed for unspecified reasons by the Marketplace.
Fast Growing
The news comes less than a year after the software giant launched its updated operating system to replace its Windows Mobile platform in October 2010, with the accompanying Marketplace.
The tally still falls far short of Google’s Android Market, which has over 250,000 apps, and Apple’s App Store, which has more than 300,000.
Microsoft is now betting big on its alliance with Finland-based Nokia to try to stem the domination of Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android-based devices in the mobile market.
The first Nokia device powered by Windows Phone 7 is expected to be the Sea Ray, introduced by Nokia CEO Stephen Elop in June, with an unspecified release date later this year. It will run Mango, the most recent update of the operating system.
Surveys have shown apps are one of the most important considerations by customers when choosing a phone. A recent study by Nielsen, for example, found that Android users access the Internet 67 percent of the time through apps, compared with 33 percent of the time using browsers.
But while a rich selection of apps to add practicality and fun to Windows phones is important, it isn’t the only ingredient needed to boost the platform.
It’s All About the OS
“Regardless of the number of apps, its all about the operating system and how robust, intuitive and easy to use the next generation Microsoft/Nokia devices will be,” said wireless analyst Kirk Parsons of J.D. Power and Associates.
The level of developer interest in…
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