Windows Store size DOUBLES: Now 0.3% the size of Apple’s
The number of apps in Windows Store - Microsoft’s online software shop - has apparently doubled in 10 days.
The code bazaar, Redmond's equivalent of Apple’s wildly successful App Store, distributes software for x86 and ARM-powered Windows 8 machines. On 21 September it broke the 2,000 app barrier with 2,079 available downloads.
That’s roughly twice as much the 1,000-odd titles available when Microsoft officially threw open the store to submissions from third-party application developers on 11 September.
Free apps continue to dominate: 83 per cent are on the house, down from 89 per cent on 9 September.
The numbers come from Directions on Microsoft research vice president, and former Microsoft product manager, Wes Miller. Microsoft has not released any official statistics on the number of apps in the Windows Store.
The store offered 530 apps on 16 August, and broke the 1,000 barrier on 5 September, according to Directions on Microsoft. Windows 8 for x86 was released to manufacturers on 15 August. The store emerged in February with the first public preview release of Windows 8.
To put this in perspective, Apple’s App Store holds roughly 650,000 apps, up from 550,000 in March, with 225,000 just for the iPad. The total number of App Store downloads to date is 30 billion. Apple's shop, which opened in July 2008, also has 400 million users. These numbers were announced by Apple at its World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) in June.
(Source: theregister.co.uk)
