official apps

We first saw the official GoPro app for Windows Phone back at CES. That was early January and at the time we were told to expect it about a month later. A month came and went. Then we saw the app on display with Nokia during Mobile World Congress. Then we learned we would see it during spring. Since today still counts as spring, they stayed true to their word. The app is now available for download.

As well as Ringtone Maker, Nokia has also pushed out an update for its beta instant messaging solution. We previously looked at Nokia Chat when it was released for Windows Phone 8 last month, but the app was limited to a select number of markets. The company has now increased that pool to cover more regions.

For those who aren’t aware, this Saturday UFC will host their 158th title fight, and like the previous times, it will be streamed on the Xbox 360.

Of course, it’s a pay-per-view event, and as such, it will cost a hefty $44.99 (SD) or $54.99 (HD) to participate. Still, the event is SmartGlass enabled, meaning you can use your Windows Phone, Surface or Windows 8 computer to “augment” the experience. That should be a lot of fun, and you can read more on that on the official site.

Here are a few other apps that you may want to pick up if you’re into mixed-martial arts (MMA) and the UFC.

As many of you may have noticed, two somewhat major apps for Windows Phone received updates in the last 24 hours, so we’ll pass on the news in case you missed it.

First up is Facebook, which has been receiving quite a few updates lately, generally a good sign…unless you consider everything so broke that it needs even more fixing. The last update was just a week ago for version 2.6 and now version 2.7  has landed in the Marketplace bringing with it some new fixes though no new features:

• Notifications now show updated time instead of created time
• Corrected thumbnail display on likes
• Now respecting except clause on posts with custom privacy settings

That’s nothing terribly exciting though if you were experiencing any of those issues, hopefully you’ll be a bit pleased with the update.

Next up is Amazon’s Kindle ebook app. That app is now on version 1.2 which shows you how often that one gets updated (seriously, it has had one update in the last year). The good news here is this update is more significant:

• Mango compliant including fast app switching, multi-tasking
• Available in more regions, including Japan, Portugal, Brazil, Poland, Sweden and presumably other areas too [Forum]
• Books are pinnable to start screen with 2 sided Live Tile

That’s some pretty cool stuff by Amazon and we’re hear they’re being quite proactive with customer support, see this post about a personal phone call from the company.

Should you wish to grab either app, you can pick up the official Facebook app here and the Amazon Kindle app here in the Windows Phone Marketplace. Thanks, everyone, for the tips and sab742 for the images

We're seeing a large upsurge recently with more official apps appearing in the Windows Phone Marketplace. This is starting to mirror last June when Microsoft unleashed a torrent of official apps for the fledgling mobile OS and it looks like a similar pattern is starting to build.

Now LinkedIn and Time Magazine each have official apps to their name and we decided to take both for a tour on our trusty Titan II.

LinkedIn, like Facebook, is native to the Windows Phone OS allowing you to post updates and track updates from your colleagues via the People Hub. The official app augments that with a gorgeous Metro inspired design and allows more in depth functionality, including management of messages, search for new potential contacts, sending out invites, managing groups. What's more it also has a moderately configurable Live Tile and push notifications. Overall, a solid offering.

Likewise, Time Magazine has an official app to its name as well. The app is also top quality with fast loading, nicely laid out text, smooth transitions, social sharing, video streaming of stories and photo galleries. That app has a Live Tile (latest image) and push notifications presumably for "breaking" stories.

You can pick up the LinkedIn app here in the Marketplace and the Time Mobile app here for free. See also this week's The Daily Beast official app.

Oh and we've heard a certain Wall Street Journal official app is right around the corner. You heard it here first.

There's no doubt that if you've been to our site over the last few days you've seen how Microsoft has flooded the Marketplace with some big name apps along with the conveniently timed Mango preview and Angry Birds for Xbox LIVE.

While we're used to having a few "official" apps every week added, the last 14 days has been a whirlwind, so much so that we wanted to tally it all up. From our count, Microsoft has gained some 51 big titles or apps in the last two weeks. That number we're prepared to revise in case we missed some--something that's easy to do. It's also worth noting that we've hit 25,000+ apps in the Marketplace--a number reached in just 8 months of effort.

This strategy by Microsoft was brilliant in many ways, getting our attention along with the media's in general as they were fixated on "Mango" (also, we're sure devs are quite happy this week too). The question we have is: How long will this flood last? In all likelihood, things will wind down this weekend. On the other hand, perhaps this is sustained effort. Needless to say, we'll be keeping our eyes open. One thing is for certain though: Microsoft is playing for keeps here and they are certainly courting all the big companies for apps, making sure customers have all the options available to them on the Windows Phone platform.

So to recap, join us after the break and see the big ol' list of who recently made it to the Windows Phone 7 party. Did we miss something? Shout out in comments and we'll add it!