Windows Phone Marketplace Now Boasts 50,000 Apps

The Windows Phone Marketplace now has more than 50,000 apps, according to a report in All About Windows Phone (AAWP).

Although 50,000 is less than one-tenth of what Apple’s iOS App Store has and also a fraction of the more than 400,000 apps in Android Market, Microsoft’s ascent to 50,000 apps is a solid milestone given the time it took to get there.

Rapid Growth

AAWP reports that Windows Phone took 14 months to reach 50,000 apps. Android took 19 months to reach 50,000 apps and iOS took 12 months, AAWP said.

Moreover, AAWP reports that content is being added to Windows Phone Marketplace at the rate of 265 items per day. At the time of the AAWP report, there were 50,126 items published in the marketplace from 13,002 different publishers. The report added:

“The 50,000 mark, which has been reached sooner than we estimated, is a key milestone, but more important is the accelerating growth of the Marketplace. It took just over a year to get to 40,000 apps, but just 40 days to add the next 10,000 apps. That bodes well for Windows Phone in 2012.”

There has been an uptick in submissions to Windows Phone Marketplace over the last several weeks. The report attributes this to the expansion of the geographic area available to the marketplace as well as to the release of Nokia’s first Windows Phone devices.

Tracking System

AAWP, which gets its numbers from its own tracking system, said 58 percent of items in the Windows Phone Marketplace are free, 14 percent are paid with a free trial, and 29 percent are paid.

Additionally, as with other app stores, the majority of apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace are entertainment apps, followed by tools and productivity apps, games and books, and reference apps.