Downloads from Apple's App Store Top Two Billion

[Ed Hardy]

Apple has announced that more than two billion apps have been downloaded from its App Store since it launched in mid-2008.

"The rate of App Store downloads continues to accelerate with users downloading a staggering two billion apps in just over a year, including more than half a billion apps this quarter alone," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "The App Store has reinvented what you can do with a mobile handheld device, and our users are clearly loving it."

There are now more than 85,000 apps available to the more than 50 million iPhone and iPod touch customers worldwide, while there are over 125,000 developers in Apple's iPhone Developer Program.

A Brief History of the iPhone App Store
When the original iPhone was announced in early 2007, Apple said it would not allow other companies to release native software for this smartphone. Instead, they could only make Web apps that ran in the browser.

For the entire first year this device was on the market, native third-party applications were blocked. This lead to a significant percentage of devices being "jail-broken" -- modified to remove this restriction.

It was only with the launch of the second-generation iPhone that Apple removed this limitation, and the App Store was the result.

Lots of Competition
When Apple launched its software store, the idea of an on-device application store was hardly a new one -- companies like Handango have offered them for years --but the early ones met with limited success.  The popularity of the iPhone version has breathed new life into this concept, and virtually all of Apple's competitors are seeking to imitate this accomplishment.

Both Google's Android OS and Palm's webOS debuted with a software store part of their basic feature set, RIM has launched the BlackBerry App World, while Nokia has the Ovi Store. In addition, Microsoft will introduce an application store for Windows Mobile devices next month.

Source: Apple

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• RIM Introduces a New Version of Its On-Device Software Store
• Android Market Redesign Will Put More Emphasis on Paid Apps
• Microsoft's Software Store Will Debut at Launch of Windows Mobile 6.5
• Google Sync Adds Push Gmail Support

[DragonHunter]

Yeah, I can take partial credit for it....since I got my Touch a couple of weeks ago I've been all over the app store. ;-)

I'll admit I was a bit skeptical at first, but one-stop shopping on the device for apps is really cool. A big step forward over having to look and download on my PC for my TX.

[brickman65]

I hear ya DH! It is addicting isn't it!

There is a lot of "junk" in the App Store, but with 75K+ apps there is a lot of good and useful stuff also. There is truly something for everyone, from the Professional to the Teenager. The App Store is far from perfect but IMHO every other platform is finding out just how hard it is to pull off an App Store.