The number of Windows Phone apps may be a long way off from catching up with the likes of the App Store and the Android Market, but with reports that it’s now home to 60,000 applications, the Marketplace is gradually becoming an app store worth talking about.

Of course that figure is a far cry from the 400,000 strong Android app community and the half a million apps that reside in Apple’s App Store, so it’s hardly going to have Apple and Google quaking in their boots. But Microsoft’s game of catch-up will come as great news to Windows Phone users who have had the bear the brunt of the Marketplace’s app failings since its official release.

Word is that Microsoft added 10,000 apps in just 25 days – an improvement on the 40 days it took the company to move from the 40,000 to 50,000 mark. If this impressive growth rate continues at this pace, the Windows Marketplace has a good chance of competing against the major app players as soon as the end of the year.

The Windows Phone platform is rapidly growing in popularity, which is in part helped by brilliant smartphones like Nokia’s Lumia 800. So if the lack of apps has been the main reason for giving Windows Phone smarties a wide berth, it sounds like the Marketplace is on the right path to delivering a worthwhile app experience.