Windows Phone Marketplace now home to more than 25,000 apps

In the case of Android, I can confirm that the junk apps really do make it hard to find good apps.  The organization of the Android Market makes it very hard to sort through the crap.  It is just easier to sort through the junk in the Apple Appstore.  Amazon is doing a fairly good job with their Appstore, but something is flaky about their comments system.

I haven’t spent too much time in either the Apple App Store or the Android Market…. but I’ve heard is that the Android Market is full of junk like wallpapers and ringtones.

Since Apple won’t let that kind of crap in their App Store… what kind of junk apps are in there?

Seriously Michael Scrip?  According to Engadget, there were 1,123 fart apps alone.  I’m a fan of the way Apple handles its appstore, but let’s not pretend that there aren’t a bunch of junk apps there too.  I wouldn’t say that the Android market is “full of junk”, but it does indeed have more than its fair share crap-apps.

@MichaelBickers:disqus 

Are wallpapers apps?  Should they be included in the lists of apps on the Android Market?

I just browsed the “Just In” category on a friend’s Android phone… and most of the “apps” listed are wallpapers. To me… that’s junk. JPGs are not apps.

Besides… I wasn’t talking about apps you might not need or want… like 1,000 fart apps or 3,000 calculators.  Like it or not, those apps work as advertised… and thus get approved by Apple.

But there aren’t a lot of “filler” like wallpaper on the Apple App Store.

your in sane do not have that kind of time
or low mentality to go thru all that none sense
I could write the app I want
rather than stepping in dog poo

Troll at least get name right, it’s android not droid OS, the droid is a phone.

U mad, brah?

robert, you realize that wp7 has  a lot of exclusives right? xbox live titles alone destroy the gaming selection on android.

What xbox live titles are you speaking of? 

Android has the majority of decent high end games now and will be getting most as they come out along with iOS. Apple still have a million more decent .99 titles though. I would like to try WP7 out, but the lack of good quality games is actually one of the main reasons I won’t.

Windows can only dream about, really? Name 5 features that iOS 5 will have that Windows Phone Mango wouldn’t? I can tell you many features that Windows Phone had upon its release last year that will be coming to iOS 5 only a year later, scaled down. In its present form, Windows Phone is more advanced that iOS 5 on many levels, but after Mango, it will be way ahead. Wake up, my simpleton friend, it is not 2009 anymore and Windows Phone is not Windows Mobile, Windows Phone leaped over Android and iOS, leaving them a year or two behind in terms of technology.

Buddy, if you don’t get paid by MS for your mile long comments, then you really should get a life!
Maybe one without .NET.

My apologies for being able to write more than 5 words on a topic.

Two words you need to learn and repeat: DROID DOES

He calls himself MiniME. That says it all.

@twitter-21785192:disqus  What’s wrong with .NET…?

 In terms of OS pretty much every phone has been ahead of the iPhone, always. These days it’s all about apps and presentation, though, and iPhone excels at that.

 @Norm_4G_LTE:disqus Please, pick a side. Be either fake “DROID DOES” fan or stick with Apple. One or the other. Thanks!

Oh didn’t realize Mango is already out!!!!!
and some additional more !!!!!!!

Looking at what we know about Mango, iOS 5 and ICS for Android, what does WP7 offer that is a year or two ahead? Or even something they don’t offer that isn’t very easily done with an app?

Oh, and what pieces of the puzzle are those?

Because obvious Apple has a piss-poor ecosystem and Android doesn’t have integration with everything Google.

No, not really. Apple doesn’t have strong on-line or gaming or enterprise footing and Android is lacking in the iTunes department. Windows Phone has everything Apple (music, publishing), everything Google (search, maps, on-line docs – only better), plus xBox components + SkyDrive + enterprise integration + productivity apps that run on PC/Cloud/Phone at the same time + Kinect in the future.

Really? MS has a viable, successful alternative to iTunes, iBooks, etc?

Everything else you listed, iOS 5 is bringing to the table. Complete sync between iWork documents, whether youre on your work computer, mobile device, or home computer. Your music is the same everywhere. Easy access to a server’s webDAV folders (easily published in Lion). iOS is also search-agnostic, meaning you can use Google or Bing’s services.

So what pieces is Apple really missing?

Dear sir,

Are you suggesting that a large percentage of 500,000 apps are being used? Not quite so. Independent research shows that only 5,000 or so apps are used regularly, which signals that 495,000 remaining apps do nothing but inflate the total count.

Where do your numbers come from? Please do some research, you’ll find the same numbers.

An unbiased opinion from a Windows advocate? This is a rhetorical question not worthy of responding to.

Who is we? People that count useful apps.

Windows mobile will never come close to the acceptance or quality both Android and IOS offer. >> I suggest that you use Windows for some time. Acceptance, yes, it is not there, which is likely to be fixed by the Nokia’s move to Win Phone. However, the fact that you use “Windows Mobile” when referring to “Windows Phone” signals that you have never played with one, let alone spend any time studying it. Windows Phone was written from ground up and it uses the most innovative UI on the market. It is more intuitive than both iOS and Android, smoother, more interactive than both and has greater potential given it’s ecosystem. iOS UI boasts nothing more than the rows of static icons, something that Palm used back in 1997, and Android looks like older Windows Mobile with SPB shell over it. Not much innovations there.

Microsoft and its current leadership is not capable of innovation and creativity and that is a proven fact. >> Proven by who? Ignorant demagogues like you? Server side – it crashes competition in every area – databases, server platforms, web technologies, enterprise email, portals and 100s other products. Client side – within 4 months from the release, Windows 7 had higher install base than all versions of Apple OS combined. That is innovation and acceptance. Gaming – xBox is the leader. No innovation? Check out Kinect and its potential. Web – check Office 365 and other online office apps, they are more advanced thank Google docs. Office – no one came close to developing anything compatible. So, my little friends, your knowledge of 3 MS products (and it is a poor knowledge, Mr. Windows Mobile) of the 200 product strong MS portfolio highlights nothing but your ignorance. And your inability to  read posts of others and comprehend their meaning only gives away your hard-wired reaction to shout Microsoft Sucks without putting much thinking into why you are doing it.

I merely pointed out that you do not cite a single reputable source (or any source for that matter) despite the claims you make and you still don’t.

I have used Windows Mobile and find it grossly inferior to IOS and Android.

In the mobile market, Microsoft has repeatedly failed. That alone is proof of their lack of innovation and creativity.

Regarding the enterprise market which was not the subject under discussion not what you originally commented about – It’s almost a case of being too big to fail. Corporations have huge sums invested in MS products and can not afford to turn away from them. Their enterprise offerings are excellent, but big percentage gains are being made and there are market segments MS has never been able to crack.

Why is it anytime MS supporters are called to account for the complete failure to date in the mobile product market, they start yelling about server products, PC software and the enterprise market even though that isn’t the topic at hand?

My guess is your a little man who works in IT, almost exclusively with MS products and has a vested interest in stifling innovation, creativity and the purchase and installation of products not using MS OS’s. Like most MS advocates you live in a bubble. To assert their mobile offerings have quality and success in the market place are the ramblings of man unwilling to see reality which is the same reason MS’s mobile offerings will lose every time. You think and act just like Microsoft mobile executives do. You should get a job working for them. You will fit in perfectly. Or do you already work for them and your job is to troll about message boards planting supporting comments?

Michale11111,Let’s dissect your latest post point by point.despite the claims you make and
you still don’t. >> Do you mind pointing out any claims that I made? The post clearly stated that my view, and it is my opinion, is it is better to have fewer apps with higher percentage of useful programs than more apps, but with tiny fragment of something that one can use. If you disagree and enjoy plowing through 10,000s fart apps in order to find anything remotely useful on iTunes, well, then you merely take a stand opposite of mine.

Again, the fact that you continue referring to the latest MS OS as “Windows Mobile” reveals your lacking knowledge in that area. “Windows Mobile” was long-neglected product that died off recently in total obscurity. “Windows Phone” OS was written from ground up, and from the first day from the release has many features that will come to iOS and Android more than a year later. “Windows Phone” was a major leap forward and from many perspectives, it is the most advanced (from the UI and usability point of view, it undeniably is) OS on the market.

In the mobile market, Microsoft has repeatedly failed >> Not true. It created its original Window Mobile and conquered the market. So it was a major success, not failure. Then MS neglected the OS for year and fell way behind. Once MS woke up, they came up with the most innovative UI on the market, more so than the original iPhone was, and again rushed to the leadership position in terms of technology. Yes, they have an uphill battle to fight to win users, but with things in the pipeline, I think they will be fine. So in mobile market MS never failed repeatedly – they had their share of success and failure (failed once, not repeatedly) and as far as I can see, well positioned to retake the market share.

Regarding the enterprise market which was not the subject under discussion >> Indirectly, it was. When throwing a blanket statement such as “Microsoft and its current leadership is not capable of innovation and creativity” you, yourself, open discussion to include broader portfolio of products for it is you who don’t specify the area you want to cover by your statement.

Why is it anytime MS supporters are called to account for the complete
failure to date in the mobile product market, they start yelling about
server products >> Because Internet demagogues, such as yourself, rush to generalize about MS creativity by screaming “MS fails to innovate”. You fail to understand that MS is more than a single phone company and you base your judgment about the entire enterprise on a single product that you evidently haven’t even used or researched. By including the whole company in your “MS fails to innovate” cries, you are opening doors for people that know MS products to show you wrong.

My guess is your a little man who works in IT >> Just like your guess that Windows Phone is a continuation of Windows Mobile, you are utterly wrong. I wouldn’t mind working for MS in the right capacity, but I don’t think we are a good fit for each other.

MS products and has a vested interest in stifling innovation >> MS did more for innovation, including innovation of the consumer products, than almost any other company in the world. Things that you use, things that you see, jobs that exist out there, much of it comes directly or indirectly from MS innovations introduced to many areas of human activities.

Like most MS advocates you live in a bubble >> Sure, I do like good things that just work and look beautiful.

AS I expected, you still fail to name a single verifiable source for your “facts”. Is it fun being Steve Ballmer’s bitch? Because that is exactly what you have every reader of BGR thinking you are.

Are you implying that people don’t find value in an application if they don’t use it every stickin’ day? I play videos games only once in awhile but that doesn’t mean that I don’t see value in them, it’s just I don’t have time to use them every single day, the same goes for mobile apps on any platform.

@Mini_Me you keep saying WP7 is the most innovative OS. Based on what? Your subjective opinion? I give props to MS for coming up with something original, but using WP7 I didn’t find the UI inviting or intuitive. It didn’t “pull me in”… It was more “glance at it, then put it away”. Even MS’s commercials originally highlighted this “benefit”.

I can’t see myself being glued to a WP7 the way people are glued to an iOS device or an Android device. And that’s not a great thing, for developers. It would stand to reason that the more time a person spends using their device, the more apps they’ll download and the more ads theyll view.

Also, you continue to employ a straw man approach my criticizing iOS for having too many fart apps. The majority of apps are not fart apps. In addition, while the percent of “used regularly” apps may be low, I personally have about a 100 apps on my iPhone, even though I don’t use all of them regularly. It doesn’t mean they’re not useful. Further, the sheer number of apps available means iOS has hit or is very close to hitting that critical point where you can find just about anything. It’s like the Internet. Do you complain the Internet has too many sites?

You use the same argument that webOS fans use, making a case that it really is the “best” OS even though nobody buys them. If WP7 is so great and is so much better than the competition, why don’t people buy it? It’s not like MS is some small company. Their marketing budget normally dwarfs Apple. So why? Is it perhaps that, while you love it, The average consumer doesn’t?

@Pendergast:disqus

@Mini_Me you keep saying WP7 is the most innovative OS. Based on what?
Your subjective opinion?
>> Yes and no. Certainly, my opinion plays the major role, but there are others that agreed. The reason I call it is Apple has the basic rows and columns of icons – there is nothing new about it – Palm had it back in 1998. The icons are static and non-interactive. At the best they display numbers over it. Lockscreen is dull and useless. iPhone is all about apps, the OS itself is pretty insipid.

Now, Metro UI talks to you. Every tile can present information, interact with a user. Having switched to Windows Phone from iPhone and Android, I find myself spending a lot more time checking info on my screen just by looking at tiles without the need of launching apps. Hubs, like pictures, music or games on Windows Phone are full with useful data presented in a very intuitive and interactive way. Neither Android nor iOS has it. Put iPhone side-by-side with Windows and check out them, I am sure you will be impressed.

I
can’t see myself being glued to a WP7 the way people are glued to an iOS
device or an Android device.
>> This is surely personal. However, considering that iOS is a list of static icons, there is nothing really to be glued to. In order to do something you need to launch an app, something that every single OS can do. Metro UI actually talks to you, delivers information, shows different images on tiles, rotates your contact photos – all at the OS level. I used to check my iPhone for notifications only, I check Windows Phone for a lot more.

And that’s not a great thing, for
developers. It would stand to reason that the more time a person spends
using their device, the more apps they’ll download and the more ads
theyll view.
>> True, but once you launch an app, it is the same on all platforms – it looks the same, it works the same, it has everything the same. Angry Birds looks identical everywhere, so inside an App your OS makes no difference. If people use iOS just to interact to apps (at the OS level, there isn’t much to do), then it is not a platform advantage – the same apps from the same developers can be found on other platforms. MS realizes it has a limited reach at the moment so they make it easier for developers to port their apps.

Also, you continue to employ a straw man approach
my criticizing iOS for having too many fart apps. The majority of apps
are not fart apps. In addition, while the percent of “used regularly”
apps may be low, I personally have about a 100 apps on my iPhone, even
though I don’t use all of them regularly. It doesn’t mean they’re not
useful. Further, the sheer number of apps available means iOS has hit or
is very close to hitting that critical point where you can find just
about anything. It’s like the Internet. Do you complain the Internet has
too many sites?
>> As you said, you have 100 apps of 500,000 out there. In your experience with iPhone you probably checked out no more than 500-1,000 of them. The rest is just an irrelevant number for you. Windows Store caught up very quickly in terms of those apps that you use. Presently of those 100 apps you use iPhone 95 will exist on Windows Phone from the same developer. I do not complain that Internet has too many sites, but for me it doesn’t matter if search cached 10,000,000,000 pages or 20,000,000,000 pages, as long as the first 10 pages of the search results have better relevance. Having 20,000,000,000 pages of rubbish that you need to plow through in order to get to the results one needs doesn’t benefit anyone.

You use the same argument that webOS fans use,
making a case that it really is the “best” OS even though nobody buys
them. If WP7 is so great and is so much better than the competition, why
don’t people buy it? It’s not like MS is some small company. Their
marketing budget normally dwarfs Apple. So why? Is it perhaps that,
while you love it, The average consumer doesn’t?
>> This is true and MS does a very poor job marketing their products. There is a cool factor at play – people will line up for days to buy packaged poop of Steve Job’s dog, as long as it is called iPoop. MS has negative stigma associated with it and people want to be part of the “cool” crowd, which, at the moment, is the Apple crowd. It’s an uphill battle and surely MS is unlikely to win screaming girls. However, just like they did with xBox when it first came out, if they put enough effort into it, they will be the leader again.

Thanks for confirming your age, Michale11111.

Your are such a child. You are not witty, funny or intelligent by anyone’s definition. I hope your wife laughs at your jokes because no one else does. Get your head out of Steve Ballmer’s butt before you die of the stench.

Michale11111, do you ask the douchebags that run BGR these same questions?  No?  STFU.  Thx.

PS, when you have to snipe at someone’s wife or reference Steve Ballmer’s butt in your post your argument is probably as weak as puppy piss.

Another Microsoft troll shows his creativity by stepping a level below what he accuses me of! Not the least bit surprising and definitely expected.

Not disgruntled but I am a middle aged (semi) professional and the tie ins to my MS work environment is enticing.

Cloud..Office..OutLook

I believe Windows Mobile was an extension of the Windows CE realtime OS. An operating system like that wasn’t adequate to support a full-featured computer like the iPhone. It was a bit like trying to build a cross country bus atop a station wagon frame.

 This is totally true. However, from the user perspective, it is the UI that counts and Windows 5 with SPB shell looked identical to the newest Android devices.

Windows Phone is build from the ground up and luckily developers took a different approach to UI. Having switched from Win 6.5 to iPhone to Android 2.3 and then to Windows Phone, I find that Metro UI works wonders for me. I am looking forward to good Nokia hardware and Mango to complete the experience, but even now I wouldn’t switch back to any other OS.

> . Do you mind sharing what was so groundbreaking about the iPhone that didn’t> exist before?Cell phones were hard to use and too complicated for the average user. Apple introduced the touch screen kebooard and the Safari web browser with pinch and spread to zoom. The addition of the app store radically increased the functionality of a smart phone. Before the iPhone, cell phones were used mainly for voice communications and SMS text messaging plus eMail (mainly on the blackberry). Apple’s iPhone was a game changer and set a new standard.> 2. From the first question, do you mind telling why innovations of other> companies are not compatible? Finding innovations from other companies in this space is a challenge. Google is the only other real innovator. Their mapping apps are especially compelling.> 3. What did other platforms copied from iPhone?Pinch and spread to zoom, soft keyboard, apps, etc. They copy everything they’re able to copy.> 4. Why is the idea of Microsoft innovating is hilarious?Windows is a rip-off of the Macintosh operating system. MS office was a copy of Word Perfect and Lotus 1-2-3. Internet Explorer was copied from Netscape. Microsoft Retail is an attempt to copy the Apple retail stores.  The list goes on, and on, and on. The list of real innovations by Microsoft that were not inspired and copies from someone else is an extremely short list — pretty much a blank page.

davesmall,Thanks for providing a good response.

Do you mind sharing what was so groundbreaking about the iPhone that didn’t exist before?
>> Good answer and I will not dispute it. Although the first iPhone was behind Palm and Windows functionality-wise, it offered something that none of them had before the iPhone – idiot-proof UI.

From the first question, do you mind telling why innovations of other companies are not compatible?
>> I’d disagree on that. While iPhone introduced great user experience, from the overall OS look-and-feel, it remained nothing more than rows of static icons. iPhone did not redefine UI, it merely copied and improved something that had existed for 10 years before it. Metro UI is the only real innovation in UI that I can think of in the last 10-15 years and from the UI perspective MS was the only innovator that I can think of (for the sake of argument, we are excluding user acceptance from the equation). Palm copied Sharp with some changes, iPhone built upon Palm UI, Android copied Win CE UI with SPB Shell.

What did other platforms copied from iPhone?
Pinch and spread to zoom, soft keyboard, apps, etc. They copy everything they’re able to copy.
>> This is true for all companies. However, soft keyboard existed in slightly different form on CE, so it was really Apple copying MS and improving MS’s idea. Pinch-to-zoom is a neat innovation, no doubt. However, in the greater schema of things, it is one of 1,000s features that Apple copied from other vendors when building its first iPhone. The whole notion of smartphone was copied by Apple from Palm and Windows, which is more important.

Why is the idea of Microsoft innovating is hilarious?
>> True on many points. However, there were things that Apple “borrowed” from the MS OS. Blaming MS for copying Word Perfect and Lotus 1-2-3 is like blaming every automaker for copying Mercedes, which was the first car. Blaming that all automakers in the world lack innovation because in one form or another they followed the original MB car is silly. There are plenty of things that MS was innovative at and if we start counting, they will be in millions. The strategy of waiting for a technology to take off and then conquering the market has been MS’s strategy for decades and it worked. It rarely becomes the first mover, but it doesn’t make it less innovative. People wrongly see innovation as “being the first” – they ignore innovation as building something better. In such case, none of the companies are innovators. Elements of Apple OS were copied from other OSs, Apple’s iPhone wasn’t the first smartphone, iPad wasn’t the first tablet, iPod wasn’t the first music player, Apple retain chain wasn’t the first retail chain for hardware manufacturer, iTunes app store wasn’t the first app store, Google search wasn’t the first search and so on. Apply the criteria that everyone applies to MS to any other company, and you will find that there are no innovators at all, only those who managed to take ideas of others and improve upon them.

“Mini_me” is so caught up in trying to convince the world MS mobile is wonderful that he can’t see reality or the truth. You are wasting your time debating with him.

Now he is busy trying to show you how reasonable he is. Check his other posts and way he throws around “facts” without any back up. Try telling him that the first few iterations of Windows OSs and the entire GUI was ripped off from Apple.