Windows Store Surpasses 20,000 Apps; Almost 17,000 Are Free

Win App Update tracks the number of currently available apps in the Windows 8 store, and has reported via Twitter that the store likely passed the 20,000 app mark earlier this week. The Next Web covered the Windows 8 store on November 5th, coming in at a total of roughly 12,895 applications. That leaves today’s milestone to mean almost 8,000 apps have been added to the Windows store in a just under 3 weeks.

It’s worth noting, however, that not all apps are available in every region. Overall, Win App Update says that there are over 20,000 apps in the Windows Store, with roughly 18,000 of those being completely free.  13,000 of those are available in the US, oddly 1,000 more than that are available in Canada, and 11,000 are available in the United Kingdom.

This may seem like a huge milestone until you realize that Apple got a significant head start — the App store hit 1,000,000 available apps just 4 days ago according to App tracking service Appsfire. Microsoft has a lot of work to do if they want their store to become as successful as their direct competitors. Yes, they’re behind, but Microsoft did a great job of launching their new Surface-Windows Phone 8-Windows 8 ecosystem this month. They definitely have some great products, but they have to convince developers they’re ready.

[The Next Web]

Microsoft to Release SharePoint Apps For Windows 8, Windows Phone and iOS in Early 2013

According to ZDNet, Microsoft is working on SharePoint apps for Windows 8, Windows Phone and iOS that will be released early next year. Microsoft has readied prototypes of the apps that are being demoed at the SharePoint Conference 2012, which kicked off today in Las Vegas, including a SharePoint Newsfeed app and a SkyDrive Pro app.

“‘We’ve had a design team four times in size compared to what we’ve had working on previous SharePoint releases,’ said Jeff Teper, Corporate Vice President of Office Servers and Services Program Management. The result: Mobile apps that reflect the “modern” style that Microsoft is pushing across Windows 8 and Windows Phone.”

For users with Windows Phone 7.5 or 8 devices, a test build of the SharePoint newsfeed is available by navigating to aka.ms/spwp in Internet Explorer and following the onscreen instructions. Microsoft also provided the mockup screenshot below of what the newsfeed will look like on Windows 8, although a test build is not yet available on that platform.

Official mockup of SharePoint newsfeed for Windows 8. (Source: Microsoft)

SkyDrive Pro, the new name for the SharePoint Workspace, will soon be available as an app for Windows 8 and iOS users; however, specific launch dates remain unknown. SkyDrive Pro is already available on Windows Phone 8 as part of the Office Hub, providing cloud storage and more on the go.

 [ZDNet]

Fantastic App Friday: First Edition

With the latest figures boasting that the Windows Store has surpassed 120,000 apps, there are sure to be many fantastic additions coming each and every week to this growing ecosystem. Fantastic App Friday is a weekly feature outlining a few of these new apps, what they do, and why you should get them. Be sure to check back each week to see what’s trending on the Windows Store!

Today we’re going to be taking a look at the app for famous recipe website epicurious, the Star Wars version of the ubiquitous Angry Birds series, and popular twitter client Tweetro. Continue reading