It’s been said that there aren’t many apps available for Windows 8. I’ve said that on occasion. But that’s not entirely true. According to MetroStoreScanner.com, there are now more than 50,000 apps available for Windows 8 and Windows RT, effectively making me a liar.
The site aggregates applications available to the Windows Store. If it’s available on the Windows Store, you can find it listed with pertinent details here. The site also provides basic data for application uploads.
According to the site, there are now 50,304 applications available for Windows 8 but uploads have slowed since Windows 8’s November launch. In fact, until just this month, the average number of new applications hitting the Store, at least per this source, has declined each month.
Ignoring the inherent differences of targeting different markets, Windows 8’s cloud application distribution service is growing much more rapidly than Apple’s counterpart. Apple’s own Mac App Store launched in 2010 and currently lists only 14,000 apps, according to AppShopper.com. Of course, since Windows 8’s store also serves tablets, it’s a little unfair to compare the two (there are 376,144 iPad apps).
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.
It’s clear that Microsoft has succeeded to some degree. 50,000 applications available four months after launch is impressive, but Redmond still needs to incentivize developers to produce compelling applications designed for Windows 8 first and not last.
Matt Burns is a longtime technology journalist, now Editorial Director at Insight Media Group and formerly Managing Editor at TechCrunch. At Insight Media Group, he guides coverage and contributor programs across fast-growing tech publications. Before that, he spent 15+ years at TechCrunch, rising from contributor to Managing Editor, helping scale the newsroom and program Disrupt’s stages and TechCrunch’s other events. Earlier, he also wrote for Engadget. Matt co-founded the Resilience Conference, an event series at the intersection of defense, security, and startup innovation. There he builds agendas, hosts sessions, and launched “Launch @ Resilience,” a showcase for early-stage teams building nation-defending technology. Across roles, he’s reported on and moderated conversations in AI, mobility, frontier tech, and the hard problems technology companies face. He’s interviewed world leaders, top investors, startup founders, and public-company CEOs. Lifelong Michiganian with plenty of Silicon Valley miles, he brings Midwest empathy and an editor’s eye. Offstage, he works with teams to sharpen narrative and validate go-to-market plans, and, when possible, camping along Lake Michigan.