Windows Store Reaches 40,000 Apps

Windows Store now has more than 40,000 applications in its catalogue, according to unofficial statistics from MetroStore.

The Windows 8 digital marketplace reached the milestone on 28 January, less than a year after it launched with the beta release of Windows 8 last February.

The number of apps had doubled within a month of the full launch of Windows 8 last October and includes a range of free and paid-for software.

Windows Store apps

Microsoft claims to have sold more than 60 million copies of Windows 8 so far. The latest version of the operating system claims to work equally well on both tablets and PCs and the Windows Store is the only place to purchase applications for Windows RT, which is designed to run on ARM processors.

Windows Store competes with mobile and tablet marketplaces such as Apple’s iPhone App Store and Google Play as well as desktop rivals like Steam and the Mac App Store. In an effort to convince developers to create applications, Microsoft has promised them a revenue sharing agreement which sees it reduce its cut from app sales from 30 to 20 percent once it has earned in excess of $25,000 (£16,000), a deal which is more generous than rival stores.

However Google has said that users will face a long wait for native Windows applications for Google services such as Gmail and Drive as it reckons there simply aren’t enough users to drive demand for them.

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