Windows Phone Marketplace hits 40k app milestone

Microsoft's Windows Phone platform continues to show signs of growth with app developers, hitting the 40,000-app mark this month.

 

Enthusiast site All About Windows Phone said that as of November 17, 40,189 items have been published on the Windows Phone Marketplace.

 

"Content is being added at the rate of 165 items per day. In the last 30 days, 85 percent of submissions were apps and 15 percent were games; 68 percent were free, 23 percent were paid and 9 percent were paid with free trial," it said.

 

Of the 40,189 items, 10,882 were added in the last 90 days and 4,770 were added in the last 30 days. These items come from 10,731 different publishers.

 

AAWP said that at the current growth rate, Windows Phone Marketplace will reach the 50,000 app mark in the second or third week of January 2012.

 

"However, it is possible that this mark may be reached before the end of the year if submission rates accelerate," it added.

 

On the other hand, it noted that of the 40,198 items published to the Marketplace, just over 5,500 are no longer available, either removed by Microsoft or withdrawn by the publisher.

 

It added some apps are only available in select markets.

 

"This means the number of available items to a consumer, in a given market, is lower than the number of published items. The current approximate figures are: US (33,950), UK (32,332), France (31,672), Spain (30,482), Italy (30,346), Germany (30,260), Australia (30,2650), India (30,371) and Singapore (29,423)," it said.

 

The site said the most likely explanation for the increased number of apps being added is a growing momentum behind the platform, and the release of Mango, which roughly coincided with the start of the increase.

 

Another factor could be the end of the quiet summer season and the announcement of the first Nokia devices, it added.

 

Content by category

 

Games is the single biggest category (15 percent). The next three biggest categories are books + reference (15 percent), tools + productivity (14 percent) and entertainment (13 percent).

 

This means the four biggest categories (out of 17) make up 57 percent of the content.

 

Competing mobile platforms

 

A separate article on CNET noted the marketplace's number of offerings pales in comparison with the app stores for competing mobile platforms.

 

Apple's App Store, which launched in 2008, surpassed the 500,000-app mark in May, adding some 150,000 apps in just four months, it noted.

 

It added Google's Android App Store, which also launched in 2008, offers more than 300,000 apps.

 

But CNET said Microsoft's platform will likely get an additional boost from AT&T, which is reportedly in talks to offer Nokia's Windows Phone smartphones to U.S. consumers early next year. — TJD, GMA News