Monday 9th August

We did think when we first saw the Windows Marketplace with the initial scattering of apps, that Microsoft might have forgotten something important. With the iPhone app store stocking over 225,000 apps, 70,000 on the Android Market, and 2700 in the Blackberry App World, the 1000 apps available on Windows Marketplace seemed like a poor effort (figures from July 2010).

Bearing in mind that Windows Marketplace was only launched in October 2009, a full year and 3 months after the iPhone App Store, it is to be expected that it will take a while to become established. Also, it launched while Windows Mobile 6.5 was the latest offering, an OS which has received mixed reviews.

Windows Phone 7, due for release later this autumn, operates in a completely different way to 6.5, and will not be available as an upgrade. Instead, a whole host of new apps designed specifically for this platform will be required.

Can an already sparse app store cope with Windows Phone 7?

Microsoft are aware that they need a decent, competitive App Store in order to attract new customers to their Windows Phone 7 platform when it launches. They have been busy encouraging their staff to go home and write apps in their spare time, and now seem to be encouraging outside developers to give it a go.

Microsoft are offering the development tools as a free download, and have even created a website where users can post their ideas for apps, thus giving developers everything they need to start coding Windows Phone 7 apps.

Go and offer your app suggestions at: http://www.mobileappmatch.com/