Ready to Party: Windows 8 Jumps the 5,000 Apps Mark

We’re days away from the official debut of the new Microsoft operating system and Windows 8 finally exceeded the 5,000 app milestone everybody was talking about.

A tweet published by WinAppUpdate reveals that Windows Store now provides access to a total of 5,562 apps globally, with many more to be submitted in the next few days.

A total of 87 percent of the listed apps are available for free, while 94 percent of them can be also used on Windows RT, which is the operating system installed on Microsoft’s newly-launched Surface tablet.

5,000 apps in Windows Store was more like a psychological milestone, as analysts have warned that Windows 8 needs at least this number of apps at launch if it hopes to succeed.

“Microsoft has put a big burden on Windows 8 and Windows RT. They have to have a large number of high-quality apps... I've said 5,000 is a reasonable number... to be successful at launch. They don't need 100,000, but they need a decent number,” Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, said in early October.

Microsoft, on the other hand, thinks big and hopes that 100,000 apps will go live in Windows 8 in no less than 90 days after its launch.

Keith Lorizio, VP, U.S. Sales & Marketing, said in an interview last month that Microsoft expects the total number of apps available in Windows 8 to skyrocket after the October 26 launch, with estimates pointing to a record 100,000 milestone.

While we’re not quite sure this is possible, Steve Ballmer can now rest assured that Windows 8 won’t disappoint users at launch. At least from the Windows Store point of view.