Microsoft is betting big on its WP7 platform, with 500 million dollars for its advertising budget, they are willing to do what it takes to make the WP7 a household name. But, in this era of mobile platforms, something equally as important as the OS itself, are the apps that are available to the end user.
Without apps, a platform will struggle to find wide adoption. Users look to third party applications to fill out the needs the vendor may have omitted. According to liveside.net, they are reporting that the WP7 marketplace has now crossed the 5k line and is growing leaps and bounds every month.
The chart at the top clearly shows how quickly the marketplace has grown since its initial inception. Offering developers a chance to make money for the applications that are housed in a central repository, similar to Apple"s model, has worked well for Microsoft despite the fact that all previous Windows Mobile applications no longer worked on the new platform.
WP7 represents Microsoft"s push into the mobile marketplace. If you think that you can"t buy your way into a dense market, Microsoft has already proven this can be done. Several years ago when the original Xbox debuted, many thought it wouldn’t stand a chance against Sony and Nintendo’s offerings. However, if you look at the current marketplace today, you surely know that Microsoft has firmly planted itself into the home console genre and has been quite successful with it too.
Image Credite: Liveside.net