Microsoft's Windows Phone Marketplace surpasses 40,000 apps

It got off to a slow start, but it appears that Microsoft's Windows Phone Marketplace has finally crossed the 40,000 app mark, according to unofficial figures from the All About Windows Phone website, which uses a custom app and game tracking system.

According to the report, a blistering 11,000 apps were submitted to Microsoft in the past three months and almost 5,000 were added in the past month alone. That's impressive for a platform which has less than 1.5 percent of the global smartphone market.

If you're wondering just how fast the Windows Phone Marketplace has grown, remember that back in January of 2011 Microsoft's store offered only 6,000 apps. Back then it was growing by around 116 apps per day, but that has increased to around 165 apps per day according to Pocket-lint.

The total app count currently stands at 40,189 from 10,371 different publishing houses, and the number is expected to grow to an impressive 50,000 apps by the end of 2011.

So, how on earth is Microsoft growing an app store for an OS with such little market share so rapidly? Well, money from Microsoft for sure, but a portion of it is owed to the Windows Phone Mango update, which landed last month.

Finally, with Nokia now fully on-board the Windows Phone train, the mobile OS might be gaining enough momentum in order to grab some real marketshare. We'll find out for sure in 2012.