One in five are games, followed by tools and entertainment apps
MarketplaceBrowser.com. Evaluating what the milestone means, or whether it means anything, is another matter. Even before Microsoft’s Windows Phone Marketplace, which is based on its Zune music and video website, went live in early November, there were about 1,000 apps ready to go. Since then, about 4,000 apps have been added in less than 8 weeks.Microsoft hasn’t been touting much in the way of Windows Phone numbers, so it’s difficult yet to get a clear idea of whether the phones running the radically redesigned OS are gaining traction with consumers. The company recently acknowledged that 1.5 million phones have been sold by its handset partners to the current crop of mobile carriers offering Windows Phone handsets to their subscribers. But so far, there are no reliable numbers on retail sales for the devices. [See “What do the Windows Phone 7 sales numbers mean?”]The apps milestone was noted at MarketplaceBrowser, which is the brainchild of Paul Willen [@paulwillen], a .Net developer, editor at Mobilityminded.com, and a Windows Phone fan who was frustrated by the current search limitations on the phone and via the online Zune marketplace. [See also: “The Zune Experience for Windows Phone 7 apps: underwhelming”] Willen created MarketplaceBrowser as a regularly-updated search tool optimized for just WP7 apps, ignoring music and other downloads available via Zune. Sometime on Tuesday December 28, 2010, the Website registered just over 5,000 Windows Phone 7 apps. At that time, about 1,100, or about 20% of the total, are games, with “puzzle & trivia” games nearly half of that number. “Action & adventure” and “board & classic” categories are about evenly tied for second place, each with about 140 titles.Tools, 731 appsThe “business” category has just 96 titles currently. “Social” apps have topped 160. WMPowerUser reports that Research in Motion’s BlackBerry App World reached about 16,000 apps in just under 6 months. An accompanying graph indicates that the growth rate for new Windows Phone 7 apps has actually been increasing somewhat over the past 30 days.If that pace continues, and users are very satisfied with the quality of the apps, it at least indicates the initial enthusiasm of Windows software developers for the mobile platform. In that sense, at least, Microsoft’s careful nurturing of developers will be paying off. [See “Microsoft crafts shrewd apps plan for Windows Phone 7 launch”] But the enthusiasm will only be sustained if endusers buy lots of Windows Phone handsets.
Windows Phone 7 users, however many of them there are, can now choose from among 5,000 apps, and counting, for Microsoft’s mobile OS. The milestone was reached this week, according to
Here’s a breakdown of the other main Windows Phone app categories on Marketplace Browser.com, by number of apps:
Entertainment, 518
Lifestyle, 311 (subcategories include “food & dining” and “shopping”)
Travel, 293
Books & reference, 282 (covering “ereaders,” book titles, and “reference”)
News & weather, 259
Productivity, 254
Health & fitness, 217 (including “diet & nutrition,” “fitness” and “health”)
