14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system might be losing ground on the market out there, but the platform it gaining more and more applications each day, with over 40,000 of them already available for download, unofficially.
The number comes from a third-party website, which is monitoring the Marketplace activity and is reporting that a number of over 4,500 applications have been added to the storefront in the past 30 days.
Microsoft hasn't provided a formal announcement on this for the time being, and there is also another third-party website suggesting that there are only around 39,000 apps in the Marketplace, yet things might be at least close to the real figure, that's for sure.
One way or the other, with the ever-expanding number of developers who seem interested in delivering applications for the Windows Phone operating system, and with an increasing number of handset vendors launching mobile phones running under the platform, it makes sense for new apps to emerge in the official channel.
A year ago, the Windows Phone Marketplace kicked off with less than 1,000 applications, and it needed until the first quarter of 2011 to pass the 10,000 mark.
Now, things seem much better, with over 10k new software entries emerging in the store in the past three months, and with more of them expected to arrive there in the near future.
Provided that developers submit applications at the same pace, the storefront will offer more than 50,000 applications by January 2012.
The availability of Windows Phone 7.5 Mango with a wide range of new features into the mix is expected to spur application building for the platform.
Moreover, the fact that Finnish handset vendor Nokia has joined the Windows Phone ranks should attract more developers to the platform, which means that more applications are set to make an appearance in the storefront.