back_by_demand :
There are probably around 50 killer apps, 1000 useful but specialised apps, the rest are unconscionable shite that the devs should be shot for creating - a mirror, really a black screen - a torch, really a white screen - endless garbage and just because Google and Apple have much more garbage doesn't make their offerings better, there are whole websites dedicated to calling out terrible apps trying to get on the gravy train
I have already provided a list of apps currently missing from Windows Store just a few days ago. Windows Store currently simply does not have the same equivalent variety of apps compared to its competitors. And being a distant third in market place will continue to hurt them. Windows Store is still at its infancy stage which is probably comparable to the Android store and iOS store within 1 year of launching. But those two stores grew fast, meanwhile the lackluster sale on the RT platform has caused developers to have little interest in porting app for it. Surface Pro helps, as it already can run best in class applications in desktop, but it also cause developers to be less inclined to port their applications to Metro interface. Sure you can always say Android or iOS is full of junks, but they sure have nice apps such as Spotify, Soundhound, map navigation, lots of free video players that support lots of format, emulators, and more. Or you can consider all those are junk apps on the same level of Flashlight.
For historical comparison of the app store situation:
- iOS app store was launched in July 11 2008, it reached 100K apps in Nov 2009. About the same time I bought my first iOS device, an iPod touch, mainly to listen to music and watch video. By June 2010, there were 250K apps, and I discovered plenty of interesting apps in store. Book readers, lots of emulators, map, simple spreadsheet etc. Those apps I used were fewer then due to limitations of the hardware at the time.
- Android market was launched in Mar 2009, by Oct 2010 it had 100K apps. I bought my first Android tablet in May 2011, by then it had 200K apps. Lots of nice book readers, comic viewers, music and video players that actually can play lots of formats, document viewers and editors, emulators, it even has ventrilo. I was impressed how many things that I used to do on PC can be done on the tablet just as well.
- Windows Store, lets say it opened when W8 was launched in Oct 2012, it reached 100K apps in 9 months, which is actually faster than iOS and Android. I had a Windows 8 (Pro) tablet since W8 was first launched, so I had been checking the apps in the store from time to time. Now that the store was supposedly having 100K apps, still it seems to be seriously lacking in variety. In fact, junk apps seem to be the rule. Also, there are very few websites reviewing or recommending apps for Windows. Back in 2011, it was easy to search for "best video player for Android" and came up with lots of good apps. Try that with Windows store and you get almost nothing useful. For the record, Windows store does have all the major social networking apps now, in fact comparing top 10 apps for Android and top 10 apps or Windows show a lot of similarity. However, it really shows a lack of variety in other areas. Best free video player for Windows 8? Go to desktop mode and run VLC player or MPC-HD. Too bad they are not available for RT.