The gatekeepers of Microsoft’s Marketplace for Windows Phone 7 are feeling rather generous seeing as how they’re now allowing developers to submit up to 100 free applications for users to download. The previous limit was 5 and if you wanted to submit more apps you had to pay $20 a pop. The reasoning behind the previous limit is pretty sound. All one has to do is browse the infinite assortment of crapware available in both Apple’s App Store and Android’s Market to see that there are shady developers out there who have no shame making mobile apps that are borderline useless, yet still make some money thanks to advertising.
While the number of applications available in the Windows Phone Marketplace doesn’t yet compete with what’s in the other stores, you have to remember that you’re comparing a barely 6 month old platform to the near 4 year old iPhone and the 3 year old Android ecosystem. More applications doesn’t necessarily equal a better smartphone ecosystem, no matter how many times marketing messages and clueless technology pundits will tell you. We’re curious to see what developers will start cracking out now, especially since Nokia has committed to making Windows Phone their primary smartphone operating system.
The type of apps I’m most looking forward to are the indie games. While Entertainment Arts may own a huge portion of the mobile gaming markets, it’s the indie developers who also come up with something so fresh, so creative, and so addicting, that they eventually end up getting bought out by the larger publishing houses. It’s a wicked circle, but imagine someone making something in their spare time that worked on both XBOX Arcade and your Windows Phone, allowing you to have a gaming experience that doesn’t limit itself to the location that you’re currently in?
Pretty wicked. And it’ll happen pretty soon.