Apple's App Store hits 1 billion downloads

by Gareth Jones, revolutionmagazine.com 24-Apr-09, 10:23

LONDON - Apple has seen more than one billion apps downloaded from its App Store in the nine months since its launch.

Hitting the one billion mark represents a significant milestone for Apple, which offers more than 25,000 paid and unpaid downloads via its App Store, ranging from Carling's iPint to the iFart flatulence simulator.

Advertisers are quickly catching on to the potential of apps as an alternative to digital display ads. The number of branded apps aimed at tech-savvy young consumers is expected to rocket this year.

According to Apple's latest financial results, sales of its iPhone more than doubled for the first three months of this 2008 compared with the same period the previous year.

This helped Apple shrug off the economic downturn to record a 15 per cent jump in profits. Net profits increased to $1.21bn (£0.84bn) from $1.05bn in the same quarter a year ago.

Here's a list of the top free and paid for apps, according to Mobclix:

Top 5 free apps
1.    Heat Pad - Relaxing Heat Sensitive Surface
2.    Skype
3.    Ferrari GT Evolution Lite Version
4.    Racing Live
5.    Yahoo! Messenger

Top 5 paid-for apps
1.    Camera Zoom
2.    Flight Control
3.    Playman Track & Field
4.    Wild West Pinball
5.    Airport Mania: First Flight