Today, the Windows Phone Marketplace, just four and a half months after launch, hit 10,000 apps making it the fastest growing smartphone app market yet--beating out the iPhone and Android in terms of rate-of-growth. Currently, the Windows Phone Marketplace adds about 100 apps a day with an average price of $2.10 and that growth rate seems to be slightly increasing as of late. By comparison, the iPhone was adding 70 apps a day when it hit 10K--a feat that took Apple 142 days with an average app price of $3.50.
At the current rate of growth, Windows Phone should expect to overtake #3 RIM's market within the next six months. Currently, Blackberry users have about 20,000 apps available--but they launched in April, 2009 and were only adding about 900 apps a month. By comparison, Windows Phone is adding nearly 3,000 apps per month, crushing RIM.
While we can of course debate whether all 10,000 apps are worthy of mention, we think it's a great sign that nearly six months out, Windows Phone developers are pumping out as much if not more apps today than they were at the beginning--meaning this wasn't a temporary surge, but a consistent commitment and interest.
Flashback: Marketplace hits 1,000 apps (Oct 23, 2010); Marketplace hits 5,000 apps (Dec. 28th, 2010)
[Of course, with all big news there is a down side: we mentioned how after 10K we will be retiring the 1K marks every few weeks and instead will hit the next 5K. So we'll see the "awww yeah guy" in a few months from now.]
Source: Windows Phone Applist, Seeking Alpha (for RIM info), WP7Applist, In Numero
Comments
Absolutely incredible. Microsoft has done an AMAZING job rallying developers behind WP7. Later this year when new Windows Phones are released, I don't think there will be any lame excuses from people to skip WP7 for "not having enough apps".
Its nice to see this headline compared to the negative spin Engadget has on theirs
I agree. Engadget has a handful of bias "journalists" that can make the site extremely hard to read sometimes.
I have defended Engadget a lot when they were accused of being anti-WP7, but that headline was definitely pushing it. There was absolutely zero reason for them to include it and it actually degraded their reputation a little bit in my eyes. They're slowly becoming more and more like Gizmodo and there's a reason I hate that site!
You should read http://www.theinquirer.net/ for a while. Engadget will seem like a Microsoft Fanboy site in comparison.
It's the truth dudes.
Yes it is. It's also the truth that they couldn't help themselves from making some smart **** gratuitous remark.
Waiting for MS to open up some more APIs so devs can really get things going. The average will get a huge boost once/when/if MS finally lets 3rd parties play with things like sockets and VPN etc.
Are there any "its over 10000" videos like there was for the 9000 mile stone?http://www.youtube.com/v/WKprayAW1EM
Great job by developers..and Microsoft in facilitating this growth. Changing the 1K mark reporting to 5K makes sense. Besides you will have plenty to report on between now and May. :)
Ya, the NoDo update is coming, then we have MiX and some new IE news (probably IE9 mobile) as well as any API changes for WP7. I actually expect new tools for WP7 at MiX or if not then at their May WP7 event where they said they'll talk about their roadmap.
Why people mad at engadet. When WP7 was first introduced, they were awestruck and hyped up the OS, one of the few major gadget sites that did. The headline is just telling the truth.
Engadget isn't just one dude. It's an collection of writers all with their own personal biases and beliefs. Not every writer on Engadget hates MS but there are a few who like to take jabs at MS whenever they can. I think it shows a lack of editorial control and professionalism if writers can showcase their bias while also calling themselves "journalists."
The pace of marketplace app development is very encouraging. It's also impressive that so many developers are doing quality work and are listening to and acting on customer feedback. Kudos to Microsoft for building trials into the marketplace infrastructure; implementing app payments in a way that gives end users flexibility, peace of mind and consistency; and seeding development early on.
The chief editorial staff is leaving. There ya go kids. Also...they are by far the fairest most reliable broad spectrum gadget blog. Also...it's still the internet...and there's a joke for everything in every post.
As much as I was annoyed with some of those stupid things Engadget did, I am absolutely shocked their editorial staff is leaving. I always understood why Josh would respect Apple products more than others (honestly they are the most design and consumer focused products out there) and all of his 'controversial' reviews made sense. Plus the man was wickedly funny on the Engadget Podcast. Speaking of, now it makes sense why the podcast hasn't happened in almost three weeks: Paul left and Nilay also recently left.Out of all of the tech journalists out there, I respected Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, and Paul Miller above them all. An end of an era!
Very cool. Only 11 days to hit this batch of 1000, compared to 18 and 17 for the previous two. I hope this faster pace keeps up.
Still customer presence on the Marketplace is weak...An ecosystem is not just made of 10,000 apps, it needs buyers too...