New App Store milestone: 1.5 billion downloads

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 15 July 2009 04:06

Opinion and Analysis

Still, going from one billion downloads in nine months to half a billion in less than three months is quite an acceleration.

According to Apple, over 40 million devices capable of running these applications have been shipped. That means the average number of downloads per iPod touch or iPhone could be as high as 37.

Another interesting statistic is that there are far more registered developers (100,000 plus) than there are items in the App Store.

Some of these will be working on in-house software that will never be released to the public and others will by tyre-kickers that just want to get an idea of what's involved, but the scale of the community suggests there are plenty of developers who are still working on their first applications.

With the number of developers and users still growing, don't be surprised if the two billionth download occurs before the end of this calendar quarter.

The arrival of apps that take advantage of iPhone OS 3.0's new features  will also help things along.

One example is iSamurai, a Wii-style sword fighting game that uses Bluetooth peer-to-peer for multiplayer action. Another is a forthcoming version of the AirCoaster rollercoaster simulator that will use the accelerometer and compass to vary the viewing angle.