When Microsoft rebranded their mobile division to Windows Phone in Spring 2010, Microsoft called out to developers to populate apps for their new marketplace. At the same time, Microsoft offered incentives to current developers to make more apps for Windows Phone in terms of better pay scales, offering new phones to developers, and opening the platform to student developers in several countries (such as India). One year later, the Windows Phone marketplace has grown to levels only comparable to the Apple iPhone platform in terms of developer support and app creation. Microsoft is slowly reaching 50,000 apps, according both to Appflow and Windows Phone app list. While there are a lot of similar apps in the marketplace and some spam apps (what app store doesn’t have this), its only been since July that the Microsoft app store reached a key 25,000 app milestone in the marketplace. Not only does 50,000 apps give users more flexibility in terms of comparable apps (or ported apps) on different platforms, but it also means that the initial developer push was not in vein at all. Kudos Microsoft, this is a great accomplishment for any platform!
Out of curiosity, what are your favorite apps? Let us know in the comments!
