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App happy: Windows Phone hits 9 million app downloads and in-app purchases a day

Ramped up ad platform also inbound

App happy: Windows Phone hits 9 million app downloads and in-app purchases a day
In an effort to amass developer support, Microsoft has revealed app transactions – either app downloads or in-app purchases – have hit a rate of 9 million a day on Windows Phone.

The declaration, made in a blog post trumpeting the platform's recent performance, claims "increased market share around the world" and a range of new apps on the Windows Phone Store are combining to push user activity.

Dev friendly

The news comes as part of an attempt by Microsoft to make the Windows Phone Store more developer friendly.

Combined with news the firm is speeding up payments to developers from carriers – down from an average delay of 120 days to 30 days – Microsoft has also launched App Studio beta.

The tool, seen below, allows less-experienced developers to make apps based on a "rich set of customisable templates."



"We've seen overwhelming interest in this approach to app development and will be sharing more about enhancements we are making next week," detailed Microsoft's Todd Brix in the entry.

"We're also continuing to make improvements that we think can increase your monetization opportunity, and we continue to look for ways to help you increase the return on your investment."

Eye on ads

Also on track is an advertising ramp up, with Microsoft partnering wirth "several third-party networks" to bring additional ads to the platform.

"We expect to see a small increase in fill rate in October, with increasing growth expected over the coming months as more networks are integrated," added Brix.

"Displaying ads that users find relevant contributes to the success of the entire ecosystem. Starting later this month, Microsoft Advertising will make a unique device ID available to third-party networks on the Windows Phone platform, an ID that’s not linked to the user or to any personally identifiable information.

"The ID helps ensure that the ads a user sees are relevant. Apps that use the latest version of the Microsoft Advertising SDK, included in Visual Studio 2012 or downloaded directly, don’t need to be modified or updated to take advantage of this potential revenue opportunity."

[source: Microsoft]

With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.