Speaking on the Windows Blog, Todd Brix, Senior Director of Windows Phone Apps Team, made some announcements about the year in review for the Windows Phone Apps Store.
He mentioned that Microsoft certified and published 75,000 apps and games this year, and approved over 300,000 app updates. They also expanded payment options, including supporting Paypal and Ailipay, and doubled the number of carriers supporting carrier billing. With 75% of the Windows Phone users who have access to carrier billing preferring it, he said it drives over 2x paid downloads compared to credit card billing.
Todd claims an average of 54 apps per phone downloaded this year. He also noted an increase in developer revenue by 40% in the 30 days since the Windows Phone 8 SDK release. With in-app purchases, expectations are that this number will continue to grow further.
This should also increase because the number of supported markets where customers can buy apps has increased from only 35 at the start of the year to 191 under Windows Phone 8 at present, resulting in an over 95% increase in the number of potential customers.
He concludes that there was never a better time to be a Windows Phone developer, and suggests those who are not should jump in.
Read much more detail at the Windows blog here.
