Windows Phone 7 may not be able to run hundreds of thousands of apps like iOS or Google Android, but as the new kid on the smartphone the third party ecosystem around the platform is growing quickly. Microsoft published some interesting stats about the number of third party developers and apps in the Window Phone Marketplace this week.

There are currently 36,000 registered developers who have paid their way into the developer program, although the development tools for Windows Phone 7 have been downloaded well over a million times. there are 11,500 apps in the Market, including 7,500 paid apps, and 11,000 apps using Microsoft’s advertising service to generate revenue.

The average user downloads 12 apps per month, and 44″ of all paid apps include a trial version.

While Microsoft could probably get more apps into the Marketplace by taking a Google-like approach and allowing all developers to push their apps to the Marketplace in minutes without a review process, the company says it’s focusing on quality over quantity by reviewing apps. Microsoft’s Brandon Watson also takes a swipe at RIM for beefing up its numbers by allowing competitors’ apps to run on the platform, and at Google for counting wallpapers as an app category — although to be fair, the Live Wallpapers listed in the Android Market as a standalone category do take a little more programming skill than simply cropping or resizing an image.

Brad Linder

Brad Linder is editor of Liliputing and Mobiputing. He's been tinkering with mobile tech for decades and writing about it since...