(Image source: Slash Gear)

BY ERIK SHUTE AND JIM FLINK

ANCHOR LAUREN ZIMA

50-thousand apps -- and growing. Microsoft’s new Windows Phone seven --  WP7 -- for short is going gangbusters. That milestone caps a very successful 2011. A partnership with Nokia, the launch of Mango....

Ok, so it won’t make Apple look over its shoulder, but it is evidence WP7 is doing a lot of things right.

All About Windows Phone says it took just 14 months for WP7 to hit 50K. Apple got there in 12 months.  

“The 50,000 mark, which has been reached sooner than we estimated, is a key milestone, but more important is the accelerating growth of the Marketplace. It took just over a year to get to 40,000 apps, but just 40 days to add the next 10,000 apps. That bodes well for Windows Phone in 2012.”

So -- hot -- and seemingly getting hotter? What’s spurring the growth?  A cool interface yes.

The Verge notes, this is an important win for a company which really needed some help.

“Microsoft has watched its mobile marketshare decline under the Android and iOS assault the past few years, but has recently stopped the bleeding, holding on to just under six percent of US mobile subscribers. Developer interest traditionally follows consumer uptake, however, and with new Nokia Windows Phone devices not slated to come to the US until 2012, Microsoft may still be facing an uphill app battle in the months to come.”

Windows knows it has a steep hill to climb. But back in March, Microsoft’s Brandon Watson also indicated, the company isn’t padding its stats either.

“We recognize the importance of getting great apps on our platform and not artificially inflating the number of actual apps available to customer by listing ‘wallpapers’ as a category... We also don’t believe in the practice of counting ‘lite’ apps as unique quality content... Finally, we don’t double and triple count apps which are submitted in multiple languages.”

Want to see a Window on the future.  Ponder this. Windows Phone Marketplace has expanded to 35 countries worldwide since opening a little more than a year ago.