Vodafone 360 now has more than 7,000 apps

And the operator expects 2m 360-capable handsets by the end of March.

Vodafone has announced that there are now more than 7,000 apps available from its Vodafone 360 Apps Shop.

That's since its launch in November last year. What's more, the operator says it expects to have shipped two million handsets capable of accessing the store by the end of March.

"The sheer volume of applications that have been submitted and approved to ship in our Vodafone 360 Apps Shop is testament to our continued commitment to open web standards," says Vodafone Group's director of content services Lee Epting.

"Whether it’s helping to reduce development time or increasing the breadth of handsets on our platform, we are trying to make it as easy and as lucrative as possible for developers to work with us and deliver the most relevant, local applications for customers across our markets."

The company has announced that developers who register for its Vodafone 360 Developer Conference - which will take place on 15th February in Barcelona - will get a free four-day pass to the Mobile World Congress show there the same week.