Apple's App Store reaches 15 billion downloads

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In a press release today, Apple has announced that their iOS App Store has reached a total of 15 billion downloads.

 

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The one billionth app, Bump created by Bump Technologies, was downloaded by Connor Mulcahey, age 13, of Weston, CT. As the grand prize winner of Apple’s one billion app countdown contest, Connor will receive a $10,000 iTunes® gift card, an iPod® touch, a Time Capsule® and a MacBook® Pro.

 

“The revolutionary App Store has been a phenomenal hit with iPhone and iPod touch users around the world, and we’d like to thank our customers and developers for helping us achieve the astonishing milestone of one billion apps downloaded,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “In nine months, the App Store has completely revolutionized the mobile industry and this is only the beginning.”

 

Today, the groundbreaking App Store has more than 35,000 applications available to consumers in 77 countries, allowing developers to reach tens of millions of iPhone™ and iPod touch users around the world. This summer the iPhone OS 3.0 software update will provide developers with over 1,000 new developer APIs enabling In-App Purchases, Peer-to-Peer connections, App control of accessories, and Push Notifications. The iPhone OS 3.0 release will also add over 100 customer features including cut, copy and paste; Spotlight™ search; landscape keyboard and view for all key iPhone apps; MMS* support; and expanded parental controls for apps, TV shows, and movies from the App Store.

 

*MMS messaging is available only on iPhone 3G; fees may apply. MMS may not be available in all areas.

 

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

 

The highly popular software and content delivery ecosystem opened on July 18, 2008 and, according to Apple, took nine months to reach its first billion downloads. Since then, things have accelerated. Last month at Apple's World Wide Developer's Conference, Jobs announced that the App Store had achieved 14 billion downloads. That means one billion downloads were reached in just a month's time. This makes the App Store the single most successful mobile software distribution environment to date.

 

And it's easy to see why. According to today's press release, the 15 billion downloads have been spread across 200 million iDevice users all across the world. That translates into 75 app downloads per user. At present, there are over 425,000 apps available for iOS devices in the App Store, with 100,000 of these specifically designed for the company's extremely successful iPad tablet. Compare that to iOS's biggest competitor Android's estimated 4.5 billion downloads as of May 2011 which is the most recent official figure available. Google claims that over 100 million Android devices have been activated meaning 52 apps have been downloaded per user. At present, it's estimated there are over 200,000 apps available in the Android Market.

 

Source: Apple

 

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