Windows Phone 7 Marketplace hits 4,000 apps

By Daniel Rubino
last updated

We're not sure if we'll keep doing this every time they hit another thousand programs in the Marketplace, but it is worth noting for now only because of the trend: the rate of submissions to the marketplace is growing, fast.

To recap:

  • October 4th: Invite-only early submissions
  • October 25th: 1,000
  • November 4th: Marketplace open for all submissions
  • November 8th: 2,000
  • December 1st: 3,000
  • December 15th: 4,000

The area of interest above is after November 4th when everyone could begin to submit apps to the Marketplace. Whereas it took three weeks to gain one thousand more apps, this time around they did it in two. Although it would not be a surprise to see it slow down a bit with the holidays, we'll be watching to see how fast the Marketplace continues to overall grow. One thing is for sure, WP7 development doesn't seem so far to be a passing fad.

And to put this all in perspective, at last count WebOS had a total of 5,000 apps back in September, a platform that has been around for 18 months already.

Source: @WP7AppList

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007 when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and for some reason, watches. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.

14 Comments
  • Quantity is not the same as quality. It just makes it harder (especially the way the Marketplace is setup) to find the decent apps!
  • It's a separate issue and the post makes no claim in this regards. The point of the post though is developer interest, which aside from quality of the apps, is an important metric. Fact is, if after two months the rate of applications has dropped precipitously that would be worth mentioning, but the opposite seems to be the case which is also of interest. This point is at least not debatable where "quality" is a very subjective measurement.
  • Hey I wasn't knocking as such. I have never had any interest in smart phones but WP7 changed that for me. I was simply making that point, and as others have mentioned the way things are set out it's extremely easy for quality apps to be lost already. I just don't want it to go the way of googles zero quality control just to make up the numbers.
  • Well in all my confusion I have have spent over $50 in apps... easily.
  • It's warming to see the Marketplace fill up nicely. Microsoft have done a good job with setting it all up and getting established developers on board providing quality apps.
  • Thats good news. But Microsoft has to improve the search in Marketplace. At the moment if I'm searching for an app it brings everything from songs to albums etc. There is no way to filter you searches either. The marketplace also crashes often on my phone having to reset. This needs to be fixed.
  • I think for a brand new platform and because the stakes are so high for MS reporting every 1000 apps milestone is just fine. When it reaches 10,000 then you move to every 5000 apps for a little while then on to every 10,000. Oh wow how soon before every 100,000 apps...I think you get my point lol.
  • This is part of the reason I left webOS for WP7.
  • If you graph that it is more linear than I'd like from a new platform. Unless the rate goes way up, it will take 5 years to get to 100,000 apps.
  • As more devices sell and there is more platform exposure through marketing then expect the number to begin to double if not triple the output. Apps being ported from other platforms is happening and more developers will be willing to do this if the platform grows. The thing that Microsoft has going for it is it's exposure and the fact that many developers will just view this as a secondary channel to their already bustling business. Demand your favorite apps to be on WP7...
  • Do you really want to see 100,000 apps. I certainly don't. It's been said before but worth mentioning again, "it's quality, not quantity that counts". Windows Phone has changed everything and they should do the same with Marketplace, not get into a race with the other guys. There are already about 15-20 task apps out there. Do you really want to sort through 200 or 300 of basically the same app to find what you are looking for. Ratings don't always tell the true story. If an app is new, and good, it may not have any rating. Actually, I wouldn't mind if Microsoft created some metrics, to evaluate; longevity, ratings, views, downloads, purchases, retention and then weed out the crap that no one has any interest in to save me the trouble. It won't help with reaching 100,000 or 200,000 apps, but it would make for a better Marketplace. Really, spend more time enjoying your life, not endless searches for the same app. Screw the other app stores. They did it first. Microsoft has to do it better.
  • "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they attack you, then you win."
  • For those who haven't developed for mobile phones, and want some perspective...you should definitely check out the development kit comparisions between apple, android and windows phone. I think it will help to provide an appreciation for how much Microsoft has put and will continue to put into making this a successful product. Which is good for those of us who own Windows Phone 7 and love it. http://wpcentral.com/coding-wars-ios-vs-android-vs-windows-phone-7 As someone with some appreciation for coding and programming, this was especially interesting to me.
  • My first app ( http://phrasememe.com/scanner ) was just published to the marketplace. I've been working on it for almost 3 months now, spending most of the time learning WP7 Development. Now that I have a good understanding of the platform I expect I could pump out a new app or update every month if I had the free time. I have a few other ideas, but plan on focusing on making high quality apps instead. Also I hope that the January / February releases add some new APIs to the SDK, because right now apps like mine are limited by not having full access to the hardware. Access to the live video stream would mean real-time barcode scanning, which is something that a lot of people are asking for.