Windows Phone market doubles in size in 2012

This year the Microsoft team working with developers for Windows Phone 8 have made a grand effort in getting not just a massive amount of apps into the market, but high quality apps at that – hitting a 75,000 market inside 2012. This number was assured this week by Microsoft official Todd Brix on the Windows Phone Developer Blog where they've also let it be known that the Windows Phone market has had over 300,000 app updates inside 2012 as well. This addition of 75,000 apps to the market has more than doubled the catalog size compared to the total at the end of 2011.

While the sheer bulk still belongs to Android and iOS for app market size, it would appear that Windows Phone 8 has had a real positive effect on the confidence of the app developer in general. Many of the most well-known apps are now on all three platforms and a massive amount of top brands and services have been coerced by the launch of Windows 8 to create their own Windows Phone 8 presence as well.

Additional affirmations from Brix include the fact that Windows Phone customers now download, buy, and use more apps than at any time in Windows Phone's history – or at least as long as Windows Phone 7 has been around (right around 2 years). Microsoft assures us that Windows Phone users now download 54 apps each on average "to personalize their phone experience around the people and information they care about most." This popularity rings true with a series of news blasts that have appeared over the past few weeks that we're sure not just Microsoft is happy to have seen:

Let us know how you're experiencing Windows Phone 8 at this very moment. Do you use Windows Phone 7 or 8 yourself, or does anyone around you use a Windows Phone 7 or 8 device?