As Windows Phone debuted the two LTE devices at CES (the HTC ITAN 2 and the Nokia Lumia 900), it passed another small threshold... 55,000 applications published to the Windows Marketplace. The rate of submissions continues to increase, reaching 328 applications per day (measured over a four week period). That's up from the average of 265 applications per day the marketplace was getting when it passed the 50,000 application mark, just two weeks ago.

As well as the total number of apps submitted (55,044 to be precise), the first week of 2012 saw another numerical milestone for the Marketplace - it was the first week where more than 2,500 applications were published. As we said at the end of 2011, one year to get 40,000 applications, and then 40 days to get the next 10,000. Assuming the rate of submissions stays on the current curve, it's only going to take 25 days to go from 50,000 to 60,000 apps.

About

These numbers are from our own tracking system, which is also used to power the All About Windows Phone Apps & Games section, where you can browse all of the applications and games, and install them via links to Zune Desktop, the web-based Marketplace, or install them directly by scanning the QR Code with Bing Vision on your smartphone.

If you're interested in getting additional insight or more detailed data, please get in touch and ask about the AAWP App Tracking service.