Windows Phone Store Receives 75,000 Apps in 2012

300,000 existing apps received updates.

Microsoft said that its Windows Phone store received 75,000 apps during 2012, while 300,000 updates were applied to existing applications.

In a post on the Windows Phone developers' blog, the company said it had published enough apps to double the pre-existing slate during this calendar year.

Microsoft revealed that Windows Phone owners are, on average, downloading 54 apps to their smartphones, which was partly due to the improved lineup of apps and the new Windows Phone Store shopping experience. The search engine giant also said it published 300,000 updates to existing apps.

"Over the last year we've made a lot of discovery enhancements including Bing-powered search and smart lists, as well as new collections and recommendations for Windows Phone 8 customers," said Todd Brix, senior director of the Windows Phone app team.

Brix also stressed that 85 percent of Windows Phone users opted for applications that makes use of functioning Live Tiles, which delivers information to the Start Screen.

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Cryio , January 1, 2013 11:38 AM

If only the desktop Modern apps were getting the same treatment. People, Mail and Skype are still really lacking in functionality. Going at this slow rate up updating and making a really fun and easy experience, it's not hard to imagine why the Surface isn't selling, yet the Windows 8 phones are selling like cakes (for Windows Phones I mean).
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reprotected , January 1, 2013 1:13 PM

I'm sick and tired of these bias pro-Apple articles. Seriously Tom's Hardware, stop posting crap like this. Oh wait...
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halcyon , January 1, 2013 2:27 PM

I wonder if ANY of those 75K apps is desirable.
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richarduk , January 1, 2013 3:33 PM

I work for a company that makes mobile games for iOS / Android. All our games are C/C++. Windows Phone 8 added support for native code. I worked like a dog to get our best seller ported before Christmas. When done the game would not install. Turns out the shop had a big bug where native code apps were corrupted when digitally signed before download. This means that no native code apps would run. So all them 75k apps are XNA C# apps! That should give you an idea of what they are like. Also on Windows Phone 8 most of the WinRT API is missing! I called a class to do gesture recognition and it throw an exception saying it had not been written yet!

Steve Ballmer laughed at Google for having two OS's, he's got at least four!!!! And that is before you count the server builds.

Windows 8
WindowsRT
Windows Phone 8
XBox 360

MS really made a mess of Windows 8! It's a car crash......

I wanted MS to come out fighting so to force the others to start innovating again.
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stevelord , January 1, 2013 6:50 PM

Gadgets were suppose to be a hit for Windows Vista/7 too weren't they?
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halcyon , January 1, 2013 7:18 PM

^ Hey, I like gadgets...like the ones for CPU, RAM, and network usage. I'm truly bummed that 8 lost that too.
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beayn , January 1, 2013 8:57 PM

While I don't think this kind of article is news and don't like seeing this kind of Apple article, I think it's a step in the right direction for Zak not to mention Apple in this article like he usually does. I thought for sure when I read this that he would say "In comparison, Apple's App store added 1 BAJILLION APPS!!!!!!!111"

It's a start...
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CaedenV , January 1, 2013 9:20 PM

halcyonI wonder if ANY of those 75K apps is desirable.

Sure there are.
Skype
Linked in
AccuWeather.com
Kindle
Baconit
YouVersion Bible
Demote It
eBay
Flashlight-X
Handyscan
iHeartRadio
IMDB
The entire Nokia Suite is pretty good
Translator
Weave News Reader
And those are just the ones I have played with and enjoyed over the last 2 weeks I have had my phone, and I have not thrown any money at any of the for-pay apps yet (though I will soon).

Definitely a young ecosystem, but it is not full of junk either. Can't wait for free Pandora for a year either

Oh, and for developers:
Using live tiles is a MUST. If there is something even as simple as a number on the tile to let me know that something needs my attention is a big help. In fact, I tend not to use programs unless I see that it needs my attention.
Also, make the main background color of the app tile match the user theme.
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halcyon , January 1, 2013 9:31 PM

^ Yes, there's some non-junk in that list...but if you could have those with JellyBean or Ice Cream Sandwich why would you want to have them with Windows RT?

It's like choosing sour seaweed-flavored Puffer fish when you could have something yummy instead. LOL. Happy New Year!
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beayn , January 1, 2013 10:18 PM

halcyon^ Yes, there's some non-junk in that list...but if you could have those with JellyBean or Ice Cream Sandwich why would you want to have them with Windows RT? It's like choosing sour seaweed-flavored Puffer fish when you could have something yummy instead. LOL. Happy New Year!
If you're looking to change from Android to something, and you've got Win8 or a Win8 tablet, a Windows Phone 8 is the logical choice, wouldn't you say?

If you've got an Android phone, and don't intend to switch any time soon, then obviously you have no reason to get ANY other phone. Same with iProducts. If you've got a Mac, and an iPad, logic follows that you'd probably get an iPhone.

Just because you have no reason to change, doesn't mean nobody else will have a reason or desire.
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halcyon , January 1, 2013 10:31 PM

^ of course...I was mostly jesting. I have Windows PCs now (up until a couple months ago I was a Mac Pro and MacBook Pro guy) and Android phones. Windows RT just doesn't appeal to me but I admit I'm prejudiced since I'm enjoying the freedom of Android. I don't wish to be prejudiced though and I guess I wonder what Windows RT brings that Android doesn't. Why would I want a RT tablet vs. an Android tablet. ...just because my PCs are MS based doesn't mean my phone or tablets should be...at least not to me.
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richarduk , January 1, 2013 11:03 PM

What disappointed me most was that MS had a chance to produce a product range that would have made iOS / Android look old school. Arm chips are capable of running full OS's. If Windows phone 8 run full windows with a 'phone ui' when not docked and when docked connects to a HDMI monitor and keyboard to give a full desktop. Yes not as fast as your six core nutter fast x86 system but for most people, it would have been incredible. My PC is in my pocket dream. They could have done it.......

Go and watch the 'Ubuntu for Android' videos. Gives you an idea of what I am on about. That would have been the killer app.

I'm a bit of a Google fan boy but I so wanted MS to bring out something that really rocked, with that kind of competition we the user will always win.

Windows Phone Store Receives 75,000 Apps in 2012

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