This week has been a hectic week for Microsoft. We had the Xbox One launch, the Nokia Lumia 2520, the Nokia Lumia 1520, and the Nokia Lumia 1320 launch all on Friday. It’s also been exciting for Windows Phone users, since Instagram, Vine, Mint, Waze, 6Snap, and an updated SmartGlass app have finally arrived in the Windows Phone app store.
Speaking of apps, Microsoft just accomplished the three billion total app download mark two days ago. It passed three billion downloads in only three and a half months, compared to when it took them six months to reach two billion downloads, and compared to the two-and-a-bit years it took to reach the one million downloads milestone.
Microsoft has released some of its statistics:
- 3,000,000,000 app downloads
- 10 million transactions processed daily, up from 6.6 million in June
- Operator billing with 46 partners in 27 markets (more than Android and iOS)
- 181% increase in monthly paid app revenue since Windows Phone 8 launch
- 290% increase in app download volume since Windows Phone 8 launch
- Approximately 190,000 apps in the Windows Phone Store
- Approximately 500 new apps added to the Windows Phone Store each day
- Average app rating has increased from 3.6 to 3.8 in the last twelve months
- Average Windows Phone has 62 apps installed, up from 42 a year ago
It’s interesting to see how all anti-Microsoft people will react to this. This is a big improvement, and it’s just getting better and better, for Nokia, Microsoft, and app developers. With this data released to the public, developers will indeed be attracted to the Windows Phone platform. Since the holiday season is coming up, and apps like Instagram and Vine are appearing, expect sales and downloads to go up for apps and games.
Joe Belfiore, the current head of Windows Phone, on Wednesday took to Twitter to claim that by 2014 the ‘app gap’ between Windows Phones and its competitors will be closed. “We’re all gonna look back on the end of 2013 as the ending of the app-gap for Windows Phone. The 3rd ecosystem is decidedly here!” he tweeted.
If you were a developer, would you take advantage of this time period and start publishing your app exclusively on the Windows Phone Store? Why or why not?
