Microsoft store crosses 50,000 apps, but tech experts not impressed

The Microsoft app store which was witnessing an alarming decline in the number of daily apps submitted to its store has witnessed an amazing turnaround in March, with the total number of apps breaching the all important 50,000 mark. The unofficial tally as measured by  MetroStore Scanner, puts the total number of apps at 50,304. “App development for Windows 8 hit its peak in November, with an average of 468 new apps being developed daily. The number dropped down to 412 apps developed daily in December, plummeted to 174 apps in January, and fell even further to 142 apps in February”,  reported Slashgear. [caption id=“attachment_673072” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  AFP[/caption] However there has been an average of about  279 apps developed daily in March alone. Tech sites attribute the dramatic increase to Microsoft’s recently announced “ Keep the Cash” promotion. The offer which runs from 8 March – 30 June, 2013 offers $100 to developers submitting apps that qualify for the store. Developers can submit up to 10 published apps per store (Windows Store and Windows Phone Store) and get a $100 Virtual Visa® for each one that qualifies. The 50,000 number is significant, but not everyone is convinced that the Microsoft app store is on par with the iTunes store or Google Play. “Clearly, they’d like to populate the stores as quickly as possible with more apps,” said Ezra Gottheil of Technology Business Research to PC World. “But it seems they want to try to pull in the 13-year-olds, because $100 is not at all meaningful to an established developer. Maybe they’re looking for the next generation of kid geniuses, and hoping to find the next killer app that comes out of nowhere.” And Matt Burns of TechCrunch says that as a Windows 8 user, he does not find all the apps compelling. “But even with a healthy 50K apps, as a Windows 8 user myself, I have yet to find many compelling applications. There’s Netflix, Plex, and Xbox SmartGlass — all the rest I’ve tried are pathetic ports of iOS applications. I tend to stick to traditional applications that run in Desktop”, he said.