Windows Phone 7 Isn’t Lacking in Apps Because It Has Websites ⇥

Of the 22 apps Geof Harries lists for an iOS vs. Windows Phone 7 app availability comparison, five of the WP7 versions are websites that he pins to his start screen. This is what evidence he’s using to support the thesis that “Windows Phone has plenty of apps, many of the same as on other platforms, if you only search the marketplace.”

I like Windows Phone 7 a lot, but its relative lack of applications is a problem. A number of the most popular iOS applications do not have comparable options for WP7, or those options aren’t as readily-updated as their iOS or Android counterparts. Foursquare and Gowalla haven’t been updated for months on WP7, but are frequently updated on iOS and Android. There isn’t a Starbucks app available, nor one for Air Canada. A community like that of Instagram is nowhere to be found. There isn’t even an official Dropbox client.

To be fair, this is primarily the developers’ fault. But it’s clear that developers aren’t invested in the platform as heavily as they are in its competitors.