Microsoft mobile store hits landmark 300,000 apps after 6 months of unprecedented growth
Microsoft's Windows Phone Store has grown by a third in the last six months, surpassing 300,000 apps, as the computing giant attempts to catch up with the mobile front-runners - Android and Apple stores - which were launched considerably earlier.
Nokia Lumia is Microsoft's flagship device
The app store, which has seen third-party Vine, Instagram and Snapchat apps rise to prominence after a lag in interest from the official developers, has facilitated over four billion app downloads since it was launched in 2010.
Additionally, last week, struggling BlackBerry released a beta of its messenger service for Windows phones, with other developers set to follow.
A Microsoft cash incentive scheme rewarding app developers who help create content for the store, boosted by a higher consumer uptake of handsets, caused the app surge.
Games developers have also been enlisted by Microsoft to produce games for the platform which can now link up with Xbox One and 360 devices.
Despite the impressive recent growth, Microsoft is still dwarfed by Apple which has 1.2 million apps on the iTunes store.
Microsoft stated: “We have more than 300,000 Windows Phone apps today and the Windows Phone Store continues to grow.
“In the past year alone the Windows and Windows Phone app catalog has grown 94 per cent, while the number of active developers has grown by 50 per cent.”
This comes after the Microsoft acquired Nokia’s mobile production plant in April for $7.2bn (£4.3bn).