Windows Phone app numbers double to 300,000 in one year

The number of available Windows Phone apps has almost doubled since this time last year.

There are now 300,000 apps available on the Windows Phone Store, according to Microsoft.

Microsoft told TNW that this means "in the past year alone the Windows and Windows Phone app catalog has grown 94%." Given that the previous recorded figures we have sit at 100,000 apps for June 2012 and 200,000 for December 2013, it seems as if the company is right.

A lack of apps continues to be the stick with which Windows Phone 8 is beaten, especially when stacked up against the big two. Both iOS and Android have in excess of one million apps available for them.

There's more reason for optimism on the Windows Phone app front. Microsoft claims that the number of developers has grown 50 percent over the last year.

This means that there's been a fresh injection of app-making talent, meaning that the first figure isn't just a case of the same old developers churning out more apps.

Given that Windows Phone's big problem is as much about app range and quality as sheer numbers, that's just as important a figure.

The last 12 months has seen the arrival of major apps such as Instagram and Vine on the Windows Phone Store. Of course, it still lacks such fundamental giants as YouTube and Snapchat, while Google and its vast library of top apps continues to steer clear of the platform (aside from a basic search app).