Microsoft’s Windows Phone Marketplace has now reached 30,000 applications.

The software giant’s Marketplace of mobile apps is on fire. Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 Marketplace has taken nearly 10 months to reach 30,000 apps since launch. Apple’s iPhone App Store took just over 8 months and Google’s Android store took 17 months to reach the same amount. Microsoft’s developer momentum is treading well as it approaches a year of Windows Phone 7 in the market.

Marketplace trackers windowsphoneapplist.com is currently tracking 30,004 apps in the Marketplace. WP7applist is tracking 29,46 5applications worldwide and explains 4,518 of them are inactive, 51% are available for free and the average price is $1.59 per paid application. Microsoft’s Windows Phone Marketplace is growing at an impressive rate. The Marketplace passed 15,000 apps in April just in time for its six month birthday. WP7applist says that 187 apps are updated on average each day. In the last 24 hours, 67 apps were updated and 59 were added.

Windows Phone 7 launched on October 26 with 1,000 applications available. Nearly a year on and the Marketplace is strong at 30,000 apps. Microsoft appears to be building up a good momentum amongst application developers. Microsoft recently finalized its Windows Phone 7.5 “Mango” update. The company is planning to unveil a number of new devices from its partners on September 1. HTC and Samsung are expected to show off their Windows Phone 7.5 offerings. Microsoft has yet to confirm when existing devices will receive the Mango update. The company will be keen to avoid similar delays with its first platform update, “NoDo”.

Microsoft’s new Nokia partnership is a great opportunity for new and existing developers as more and more consumers take advantage of Windows Phone. Nokia said recently that it plans to ship Windows Phone branded devices to developers when they are available later this year. Nokia’s first Windows Phone, codenamed “Sea Ray” was leaked to the internet last month after Elop demonstrated the device at an internal company meeting. The device is expected to be available later this year. The design of the device appears to be identical to the recently announced Nokia N9, powered by MeeGo. The device is “super confidential” at this stage and features gorilla glass, pillow shaped backing and a carl ziess 8MP camera. The secret nature of the device hasn’t stopped it leaking however. A new video emerged last month of ‘Sea Ray’ booting up into Windows Phone 7.5. The video demo provides a good hands on for the new device. The product is Nokia’s first Windows Phone device and will be available later this year when the company releases a batch of Windows Phone 7.5 “Mango” devices.