Quantity not a problem as Windows 8 hits 20,000 app mark , and that too mostly FREE!!

Microsoft's freshly-launched Windows 8 now offers 20,000 apps with almost 90 per cent of them coming with a price tag of zero.

Win App Update reports that there are currently 20,610 apps globally in the Windows Store, reckoning that the big 20,000 mark was hit on Tuesday November 20.

The same source added that 17,958 of those apps are free – but notes that not all apps are available in all countries.

Plenty of apps

Canada has the lion's share, it seems, with the lucky Canucks able to access 14,000 of the Windows 8 apps available.

The US comes in second, with 12,675 apps in their store and the UK is only slightly behind with around 11,000.

It's worth remembering that these figures haven't come from Microsoft so they might be slightly out – either way, it looks like Windows 8 is well on its way to being nicely stocked in the app arena.

The Mac App Store reportedly hit 10,000 apps back in April this year which is a slower rise given that Apple launched its desktop app hub in January 2011. However, the company did report that it hit 100 million Mac App Store downloads in December of that year which is not too shabby.

Windows 8, meanwhile, launched in October 2012 and looks to have added over 7000 apps in the last 17 days alone.

Quantity doesn't seem to be much of an issue for the fledgling OS – quality, however, is another story.

From Win App Update via TNW , Techradar