While downloads of Windows 8 and Windows 8 apps have grown as of late, the amount of apps being developed and released has trended southward in the past several months.
Based on numbers from MetroStore Scanner, a site that lest you browse Windows apps from the Web, June saw 19,000 new apps released in the Windows Store. In July, that count dropped to 12,000. From there, a clear pattern developed, with a mere 5,400 apps seeing the light of day in August. Even less Windows 8/8.1 apps were released in September – 5,100, to be exact. Only last month did that number perk up a bit to 7,300, but that likely had something to do with the fact that Windows 8.1 was released on October 17. Because a significant amount of the new apps released last month likely coincided with the 8.1 launch, we expect another downturn this month and down the line.
The decrease in app releases could represent a strategic shift that focuses on quality over quantity, though it’s just as likely that developers are holding back, waiting to release apps once the holiday shopping season kicks off roughly two weeks from now. However, Sameer Singh, a tech analyst, has another theory.
“Most Windows 8 devices are bought as PCs, not tablets. Slapping a tablet interface (or a touchscreen) onto a PC doesn’t address this problem,” wrote Singh on his blog. “Most users would spend very limited time in the Metro interface and switch back to desktop for the jobs they needed the PC to accomplish. As a result, the Windows 8 store has been relegated to the background and developers are losing interest in the platform.”
Frankly, it’s hard to argue against that.
