Top ten Windows Phone app firms? - I don't think so!

The windowsphone-news site today pointed out a report by Best Web Design Agencies for what it reports are the "Top 10 Windows Phone apps companies in United Kingdom".

Hmmm. Let's take a look.

Actually, I'll save you the effort. Here's what I've found:

• Of the ten best UK companies, one is in the USA and one is in India. How's that work then?
• Two of those companies don't claim to do Windows Phone development on their website. One does Windows Embedded Compact and one does Windows Mobile, which it still claims "now accounts for a considerable share in the smart phones OS market".
• Four of the companies specifically refer to "Windows Phone 7".
• Only one lists any Windows Phone development on the site in their portfolio or case study sections.
• The one that does show some portfolio work leaves me underwhelmed. Especially when they're supposed to be among the best.

Apparently, the agencies have "been put through a rigorous examination to uncover how well they perform compared to industry standards and competitors." And the results are the work of "A specialized team of researchers examine thousands of applicants each month who are seeking to be ranked as a top mobile development product or service."

I call BS.

There are some great companies building some incredible apps. They're just not included in the above report.
To be fair, I don't know any of the companies in the report and am not aware of seeing any of the apps they've built. They may be good. We've just no way of confirming it for ourselves. We just have to rely on the opaque, anonymous reviews performed by a company who asks agencies to apply for a ranking.

This report doesn't reflect the state of those agencies who are doing Windows Phone development. If I was to look at the companies in the report to get an idea of the Windows Phone platform I'd consider it to be in much worse shape than it really is.