The smartphone apps battle for bronze hots up: Windows 7 vs BlackBerry

Microsoft’s Windows Phone Marketplace now has more applications available than BlackBerry App World, according to app analyst Distimo.

Now adding apps at a rate of 3,000 per week, Windows has taken a very distant third place in the app race behind the Apple iTunes app store and Google’s Android Market.

Both platforms are now past the 50,000+ apps mark, but are still falling further behind their more illustrious rivals rather than gaining ground.

Interestingly, they are adopting different strategies to woo developers to their causes, with BlackBerry offering free PlayBooks and Microsoft spreading to more countries to gain market share.

But the big apps are still largely only available on Apple and Android. Of the top 10 apps of 2011, Apple and Android had nine each: the exceptions being Google Maps being Android only and iBooks being Apple only.

In comparison, Windows Phone only had four (Angry Birds, Facebook, Fruit Ninja and Twitter) and BlackBerry a measly two – Facebook and Twitter.

It’s the worst of chicken and egg situations: With sales of smartphones featuring the Microsoft and BlackBerry OSs floundering a little, it’s hardly surprising developers are taking a cautious approach to them – but without a solid base of popular apps, neither system is likely to flourish.

To draw a positive, at least both platforms have recorded growth in their number of available apps. According to Distimo’s research, BlackBerry’s app growth has been pretty much stagnant through the end of 2011, allowing Microsoft to catch and pass it, but BlackBerry has fought back well since mid-January.