Windows Phone 8 app sales reportedly surge with ambiguous data

Windows Phone 8 is apparently a smash hit with developers, or at least Microsoft seems to think so.

Speaking out on Twitter over the weekend, Windows Phone Apps Team Senior Director Todd Brix claimed an impressive 100 percent growth in app revenue and downloads in the wake of Windows Phone 8.

"If you build it, they will come. 100%+ increase in WP developer revenue & app downloads since WP8 launch in Nov," Brix tweeted.

Today he added some clarification to the statement, which had already started generating buzz and more than a few calls for specific sales data.

"100% = growth 30 days after 10/29 announce in US. Just sharing a nice trend FWIW. Not announcing raw sales," he said.

Talking in trends

Taken simply as a general trend, improved sales and downloads for Windows Phone apps is to be expected.

While Windows Phone 8 hasn't exactly set the sales charts on fire, it is at least outperforming its predecessor.

According to Microsoft, last month it sold four times as many Windows Phone 8 handsets as it did smartphones for the same time in 2011.

Of course, without any data for context that could still indicate a lackluster launch, but it would at least be a lackluster launch four times better than the year before.

So with four times as many Windows Phone 8 handsets are getting sold, sure, we'll buy it that the Windows Phone 8 app ecosystem received a boost as well.

The devil is in the details

An increase of 100 percent or more seems a bit of a stretch, but certainly possible. After all, very few new apps were being released a month prior to the Windows Phone 8 launch, as many developers saved their apps for the new mobile OS.

The initial numbers could be shockingly low, or the new download statistics could be staggeringly high. However, without actual sales data in hand it is easy to assume the worst, especially when competitors like Apple and Google are all too eager to make even the smallest milestone known by the world.

The continued lack of specificity from Microsoft is worrying, suggesting that the software giant is not as proud of the data as it claims to be. Just sharing a troubling trend, for what it's worth.

Via Twitter