Windows 8 Store now hosts more than 35,000 apps

Critics of Microsoft’s latest operating system are steadily being forced to reconsider their words. The company recently announced that its Windows 8 Store now stocks more than 35,000 apps. According to The Next Web, the number of apps available for the operating system has risen by 14,000 over the last month. Going by the numbers, Microsoft is adding applications to the Windows 8 Store at a rate of 415 apps per day.

While this does point to a young but thriving ecosystem, it is well worth noting that the number of apps is still no indication of the quality of the apps. While you may have many options to choose from, they might not necessarily be very good options.

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This is similar to the problems faced by Android in its early days. While the OS had a large number of free apps, they weren’t of the same quality as iOS apps.

More than 35,000 apps!

Microsoft’s Windows 8 ecosystem seems to be growing, as earlier this month, the company revealed that app submissions to the Windows Phone Store rose by 40 percent since the launch of Windows Phone 8.

While the Windows Phone 8 platform is picking up, it is in serious need of apps. Although the applications on the platform seem to be of a higher standard compared to Android, the OS lacks popular games and even social networking options like Instagram. We were told recently by Windows Phone representatives that the number of apps will be hitting significantly higher numbers very soon.

Earlier, Microsoft announced that the Windows Phone Store now covers 113 countries. In a blog post, the company also revealed that it would be rolling out an update for the Windows Phone Dev Centre and the Windows Phone Store.

The update brings fixes to issues identified by users, feature enhancements and reflection of new country-specific policies. “On tap for this wave of updates are several behind-the-scenes changes designed to help improve the reliability and performance of the Dev Centre, in addition to the app submission process,” Microsoft stated.

Microsoft is also urging developers to go for worldwide distribution of their apps by working with the Dev Centre in order to maximise their reach in new markets, where a variety of new Windows Phones have or will soon be released.

Earlier this month, Microsoft released a critical update for Windows 8. This was the first time the software giant issued a fix for the relatively new Internet Explorer 10. Five of the seven security updates were marked ‘Critical’ in the Windows Update service, while the other two were labeled ‘Important’. Nine of the 12 vulnerabilities were marked ‘Critical’.

All is not well in the world of Windows 8, however. According to an earlier report, sales of Windows-powered computers fell 21 percent overall in November. This indicates a very lackluster debut for Microsoft’s latest operating system.