The amount of apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace
Microsoft's Windows Phone Marketplace has now reported to have passed 25,000 apps by one site tracking comings and goings within it. (source: WindowsPhoneAppslist, July 2011)
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I'm still supremely skeptical of BUG, based on what I've seen so far. They're targeting an odd niche - people who want more than Lego Mindstorms but aren't motivated to learn to build their own hardware. But it's definitely not for the casual hobbyist, which is what the blogs keep touting it as, unless the casual hobbyist also knows Java.
And there are already several communities around open source hardware development (like Arduino) which support any component you can throw at them. I suspect the BUG hardware won't be cheap, since it will essentially be those components packaged into snap-together casings.
The SDK looks like a modified version of Eclipse, so maybe they're trying to lure software developers into doing hardware dev? I really want to know from the BUG folks who they're targeting, because it looks like a niche geek product to me that will only further fragment the indie hardware development that's been blossoming recently.