All About Windows Phone is reporting that the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace recently reached 50 000 apps and seems to have hit some sort of critical mass. It took over a year to get to 40 000 apps, but just 40 days to get to the next 10 000– a sign of good exponential growth on the platform.
This acceleration can be attributed to a few factors. The new Nokia Windows phones has generated some hype for the platform, and recently the Windows Phone 7 platform extended from 16 to 35 countries. All About Windows Phone also reports that in the last four weeks, an average of 265 new apps were added each day.
Fifty-eight percent of items in the Windows Phone Marketplace are free, 14% are paid with a free trial and 29% are paid. By comparison, the free / paid ratio for Android is approximately 69% / 31% and for iOS is approximately 43% / 57%.
