iPhone App Store tops 2,000,000,000 downloads
9.5 million farts
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Apple's iTunes App Store has hit yet another milestone: two billion apps downloaded since the Store hung out its digital shingle on July 11, 2008.
The news came in an Apple announcement which also noted that the store's customers now include over 50 million iPhone and iPod touch owners worldwide - in 77 countries, to be exact.
Those worthies can now choose from among more than 85,000 apps created by 125,000 registered members of Apple’s iPhone Developer Program.
Say what you will about Apple's strong-arm control of what gets inserted into its sleek and shiny handhelds, but it's clear that the public has bought into the Apple ecosystem in a big way.
And the App Store juggernaut shows no signs of slowing. Quite the opposite - it's pedal-to-the-metal accelerating. The Store reached one billion downloads in April of this year, nine months after it launched. Shortly after its first birthday it had distributed 1.5 billion, and now - five months after its one-billion milestone, it has hit two billion.
Apple, however, doesn't reveal how many of the downloads are of paid apps and how many are free. The app trackers at Mobclix, however, do provide a breakdown - and their latest count claims over 65,000 paid and a hair under 20,000 free.
Mobclix also provides a breakdown by category, with games and entertainment apps leading the way at 16,603 and 12,656, respectively, as of September 23.
That's a lot of fart apps. In fact, a search on "fart" in the Store turns up 406 downloadable impersonations of the fine art of clearing one's nether throat.
If one were to assume that fart apps are downloaded at the same rate as other apps - an insupportable assumption, of course, but allow us the fantasy of such an extrapolation - those 406 apps would account for over 9.5 million instances of iPhone and iPod touch poots, toots, and related digital windbreaking.
Luckily, among the 85,000 apps in the Store are enough truly useful apps to balance the juvenile lunacy - think Pandora Radio, Shazam, Remote, Quickoffice, Kindle, LogMeIn Ignition (App Store links), and many, many more.
The iTunes App Store is a success. The doubters were wrong. Steve Jobs was right. ®
COMMENTS
Two months - twenty apps
After two months I have about 20 apps - I'd say five are free (e.g. Google Earth, Shazam, etc.) The rest are utilities and tools with various pricing - mostly 59p a shot - hardly a bank breaker if they are a useful addition.
For me I've slowed down with app purchases and downloads - however I imagine it will be one a month for the next twelve months or so.
@BULLSHIT/AC - I agree 40 apps might be a little high - but most people DO bother with downloads (after all some ARE really useful/entertaining) and in particular for the iTouch.
@AC
"40 apps per person sounds an extremely high average, particularly as a lot of people don't bother with apps at all or at least very few apps on their iPod touches, and many don't even bother on the iPhone.
No, this is just another figure pulled out of thin air by Apple's marketing dept. to keep their hype machine rolling, despite the actual real world crappiness of their hardware."
Oh come on! 40 does not sound high at all. I would say it's right on the money. I have about 60 I've downloaded, some I've deleted, but I probably have about 40 on my phone now and it seems like a similar experience with others I know. It seems obvious that your anti-Apple bias might be blinding you to the fact that no hype machine is necessary on the iPhone. It is a real juggernaut and that's because people like the phone!
@It wasnt me
"So, average 40 apps per user. I call BS.
I know about 20 people with iPhones, and Id say the average is about 5 apps downloaded."
Now I have to call BS on you. I know tons of people with iPhones and they have TONS of apps. An average of 40 per user definitely sounds about right.
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