There are now more than 130,000 Windows Phone 8 applications available from the Windows Phone Marketplace, Nokia has revealed.
Making the announcement on behalf of Microsoft, manufacturer Nokia, which utilises the Windows Phone 8 platform for its flagship Lumia range, including the newly unveiled Nokia Lumia 720 and Nokia Lumia 520, confirmed the Windows Phone 8 app milestone during its MWC 2013 press conference.
“Today we are proud to announce that we have achieved the level of 130,000 Windows Phone applications,” Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said. “That’s 130,000 applications tailor made for the Windows Phone experience.”
Although still someway off the lofty heights of the iPhone and iPad providing iOS App Store and Google’s Android service Google Play Store, the new Windows Phone 8 milestone marks a breakthrough in the platform which has struggled to attract developers since the launch of Windows Phone 7.
“We are becoming bolder in the way we work with developers,” Elop said. “Together with Microsoft we are bring unique experiences from some of the world’s top brands to our phones.”
Suggesting that the Windows Phone 8 platform will continue to go from strength-to-strength, Nokia predicted that app quality will help its Windows Phone 8 devices take a stronger hold of the market.
“It is more than just about the volume of applications, we are also focussed on the quality of the application experience,” the Nokia head stated. “We are opening up our core technologies and APIs in areas like imaging and location-based service to the developers. We believe that access to these capabilities will inspire never before seen applications that will be unique to Nokia.”
Offering added incentive for developers to consider Windows Phone 8 as opposed to primarily iOS and Android, Elop added: “We are really focussed on helping developers make money in this ecosystem we are doing this by helping them with something called the Business Development Tool.
“We are helping them to distribute their applications by highlighting applications on a local basis so that the most relevant local applications are visible within their markets.”
Bringing the Windows Phone 8 platform closer to the competition, whilst BlackBerry 10 apps numbered more than 70,000 at the platform’s launch last month, Microsoft’s latest OS still falls dramatically behind the 750,000 Android apps already on offer.
Are you a Windows Phone 8 handset user? What apps are you still waiting to arrival on Microsoft’s OS? Let us know via the TrustedReviews Twitter and Facebook feeds or through the comment boxes below.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.