Growth returns to the Windows Phone Store as Microsoft announce 160,000 apps, 200 million monthly transactions

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The growth in the Windows Phone Store had dropped dramatically in the first half of 2013, with the Windows Phone Store on average only adding 110 apps per day.

Now however it appears Microsoft’s efforts to stimulate developers has worked, as Windows Phone head Todd Brix has announced that there are now more than 160,000 apps in the Windows Phone Store, up from 145,000 on the 10th May 2013.  That means over the last 6 weeks around 320 apps per day have been added to the store.

Microsoft also announced that the store was seeing more 200 million transactions per month and that daily revenue had increased 2.5 times since the October 2012 introduction of Windows Phone 8. The increase was driven by increased numbers of Windows Phones and also the expansion of operator billing, which meant 6-8 times more paid transactions in less developed markets and 3x more in developed markets.

The Windows Phone Store now supports carrier billing on 30 carriers in 20 markets, more than Google Play.

Microsoft also announced that their Red Stripe Deals resulted in an average 4 times increase in net revenue for each developer featured, and that this increase lasted for more than 4 weeks after the promotion ended.

Microsoft also teased their “next release”, running on their “next-generation platform” , saying they aimed for this new platform to be compatible with apps being developed now, and promised that developers will be able to reach more users across more devices – possibly teasing Windows Phone apps running on tablets.

The good news of increased growth in the Windows Phone Store is tempered somewhat by knowing Microsoft has been running a variety of promotions which rewarded developers directly for publishing apps which may be of very low quality, but at the same time it can not be denied that a variety of high quality apps, such as Pandora, and much wanted apps, such as BBC iPlayer, have finally made it to the platform in recent weeks, and that the app situation is rapidly improving for Windows Phone users.

Do our readers feel the tide is turning? Let us know below.

More about the topics: apps, marketplace, windows phone store

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