Windows Phone Marketplace surpasses 80,000 apps

Microsoft's Windows Phone Marketplace now has more than 80,000 mobile apps, with new ones being added at a rate of 340 apps per day, according to a technology blog.

All About Windows Phone said in a post Tuesday, that as of Apr. 1, there were 82,234 apps published from some 20,327 different developers.

According to the post, it took just under five months for the number of developers who published Windows Phones app to double.

It added that the 50,000 app mark was reached on Dec. 27 last year, the 60,000 mark on Jan. 22, and the 70,000 mark on Feb. 23.

"The 80,000 apps and 20,000 publishers milestones, together with their respective growth rates, suggest the Windows Phone Marketplace is enjoying sustained and accelerating growth," the post said. It is now "comfortably the third biggest mobile app ecosystem", behind Apple's iOS (above 550,000) and Google's Android (above 450,000), but still ahead of Blackberry (70,000) and Symbian (70,000), it added.

It also pointed out that the rate of apps being added to the marketplace have increased from the February's average of 250 apps per day to the current 340 apps per day. This however was still lower than the average 375 apps per day in January.

The post attributed the "very positive" outcome to the maturing Mango platform and the entry of Nokia into the Windows Phone ecosystem.

According to the blog, 67 percent of the apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace are free, 10 percent are paid with a free trial, and 22 percent are paid.

It predicted that with the current rate of growth, the 100,000 app mark will likely be reached this May.