14 DAY TRIAL // Good news for Microsoft and Windows Phone fans, as the number of applications in the Windows Phone Store has now reached 255,000. The information has recently been confirmed by Microsoft’s General Manager, Mobile Devices for Australia and New Zealand, Steve Lewis.
While the number is far behind its main competitors, Google and Apple stores, the good news is that Windows Phone Store now has more applications than Amazon’s Appstore, which has recently announced that it has hit 240,000 apps.
Lewis has also said that the number of apps published in Windows Phone Store has increased considerably in the last couple of weeks, especially since Windows Phone 8.1 was announced back in April.
Arnnet Australia reports that Microsoft’s official has confirmed that his company sees huge momentum across the applications offering lately: “Which is a combination of increasing choice, demand from consumers and more developers coming on board to create new apps for the growing Windows Phone ecosystem.”
Moving on to popular applications in Windows Phone Store, Lewis claims that more and more users seem to prefer Microsoft’s and Nokia’s apps and services.
“What’s really exciting to see is while top apps like Instagram, Vine and Halo continue to perform in store consumers also love our exclusive apps.
Whether it’s free navigation services with HERE Drive and HERE Maps, social sharing apps like Nokia Storyteller and Nokia Beamer or the latest in video and camera technology with Nokia Camera and Nokia Refocus, our aim is to deliver a much more personal, unique app experience to Nokia Lumia users.”
According to Lewis, the number of new developers creating applications for Windows Phone has increased in the last six months and Microsoft now has more than 510,000 registered Windows Phone developers who are now publishing apps that are very well received among users.
It’s unclear whether or not the number of registered Windows Phone developers also includes those users who made an App Studio account just to be able to download Windows Phone 8.1 Developer Preview, but we hope it’s not.
Steve Lewis has also confirmed that those 255,000 apps in the Windows Phone Store are downloaded at the rate of 10 million per day. Another positive aspect is the fact that the number of apps in the Store increases by approximately 500 new apps per day.
“Since the launch of Windows Phone 8 consumers are now accessing the store at scale. We take a partnership approach throughout the development journey – nurturing ideas and providing technical and marketing support to our developer community. This combined with the strong commercial opportunity will be key to continuing our current momentum,” concluded Lewis.