Apple?s App Store: More than 1.5 billion served
As Apple's mobile App Store turned 1 year old this past week, the Cupertino company announced Tuesday that more than 1.5 billion total applications were downloaded in the last 12 months, and the store's popularity continues to grow at an incredible pace.
That's another half-billion downloads in the last three months – a trend which suggests the App Store's popularity is gaining significant momentum.
On April 23, the App Store hit 1 billion total downloads, just over nine months after the destination first launched on July 10, 2008. Over those first 288 days, the App Store averaged nearly 3.5 million downloads per day.
But serving up an additional half-billion applications since April 23 has skewed that total much higher. Over the period of one year, Apple's App Store has been home to nearly 4.1 million application downloads per day.
To put the last three months in perspective, to achieve 500 million application downloads since April 23, Apple has maintained a pace of over 6.3 million downloads per day over the past 79 days.
Chalk it up to more than 40 million devices capable of accessing the App Store in consumers' hands. The three iPhone models and the iPod Touch serve customers in 77 different countries.
"The App Store is like nothing the industry has ever seen before in both scale and quality," said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs. "With 1.5 billion apps downloaded, it is going to be very hard for others to catch up."
Apple boasts that the software destination is “the largest applications store in the world.” It also said that there are more than 65,000 apps available from more than 100,000 developers in the iPhone Developer Program.
Still, as a revenue stream for Apple, the App Store may not be as profitable as these numbers might suggest. With a rumored ratio of 15 to 40 free apps for every paid one sold, and an O'Reilly estimate that the mean price for an application is $2.65, Lightspeed Venture Partners' Jeremy Liew suggested in May that Apple may have only earned between $20 million and $45 million from the App Store.
But Apple has maintained that the App Store isn't meant to be a profit generator as much as it is a means of attracting customers to the iPhone and iPod touch, where the majority of profit exists.
That's another half-billion downloads in the last three months – a trend which suggests the App Store's popularity is gaining significant momentum.
On April 23, the App Store hit 1 billion total downloads, just over nine months after the destination first launched on July 10, 2008. Over those first 288 days, the App Store averaged nearly 3.5 million downloads per day.
But serving up an additional half-billion applications since April 23 has skewed that total much higher. Over the period of one year, Apple's App Store has been home to nearly 4.1 million application downloads per day.
To put the last three months in perspective, to achieve 500 million application downloads since April 23, Apple has maintained a pace of over 6.3 million downloads per day over the past 79 days.
Chalk it up to more than 40 million devices capable of accessing the App Store in consumers' hands. The three iPhone models and the iPod Touch serve customers in 77 different countries.
"The App Store is like nothing the industry has ever seen before in both scale and quality," said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs. "With 1.5 billion apps downloaded, it is going to be very hard for others to catch up."
Apple boasts that the software destination is “the largest applications store in the world.” It also said that there are more than 65,000 apps available from more than 100,000 developers in the iPhone Developer Program.
Still, as a revenue stream for Apple, the App Store may not be as profitable as these numbers might suggest. With a rumored ratio of 15 to 40 free apps for every paid one sold, and an O'Reilly estimate that the mean price for an application is $2.65, Lightspeed Venture Partners' Jeremy Liew suggested in May that Apple may have only earned between $20 million and $45 million from the App Store.
But Apple has maintained that the App Store isn't meant to be a profit generator as much as it is a means of attracting customers to the iPhone and iPod touch, where the majority of profit exists.
Comments
"The App Store is like nothing the industry has ever seen before in both scale and quality," Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a press release.
steam
hard for others to catch up indeed
Apple has shipped more than 40 million total devices capable of accessing the App Store.
Wait, isn't 1,5 billion / 40 million = 37,5 apps per device capable of downloading from the app-store? Taking into account that not every device is working/used, or that not everyone is downloading like crazy (I consider myself a normal user and downloaded about 30 apps) does that mean some users have, like, close to a hundred apps on their phone?
Sounds like a lot...
steam
Steam?
1,500,000,000 downloads and 65,000 applications in the first 12 months?
People hated it when it first came out, I don't think they got anywhere near those figures in their first year.
I wondered if users downloaded and didn't like it, then deleted it afterward. I guess 1.5 billions included removal and re-downloaded. My two cents
Wait, isn't 1,5 billion / 40 million = 37,5 apps per device capable of downloading from the app-store?
This comes up every time they release numbers. Best guess is that they're counting version updates as discrete downloads.
In fact, you can have more on the device than the 11 screens can hold. You just download them to your device and access them from the Spotlight page.
Some have never downloaded an app and use only the ones on the device. Some have downloaded a half doze.
If I remember correctly the average for the small survey they made was in face in the middle thirties range.
I have 133 apps, but only about half of them are still on my touch. And a good portion of those are Lite apps that I am evaluating, and will purchase some.
I have purchased some good quality apps, and will keep some of the free Lite apps, and a few of the free full apps. So, I'm sure I'll have at least 35 to 40 apps on the touch at any one time, or probably more.
I love that a lot of the apps can be played in just a few minutes at a time whenever there is a bit of time that needs filling. I've had 6 book readers, although I'm close to whittling that down to the two I like best. In fact, I used to be a voracious reader, but haven't read a book in 30 years. I am now once a again a reader, and I love it.
IM app, Tweet App, reader apps, Docs-to-Go, Wikipanion, Wikiaround, a grocery list app, Flixter movies, YP.ca for business, and personal phone numbers, Dictionary, PayPal, Facebook, Google, Google Earth, a few good utility apps for specific purposes that come in very handy, WebMD, Howcast, a host of free games I'm evaluating along with 6 or 7 I have bought.
So, yes, the average is about right as far as I'm concerned, and the quality of the apps keeps getting better and better. And they aren't all just games. They are very useful tools that I use on a regular basis. If the apps doesn't suit me, or I don't use it more than once or twice a month, then it gets taken off of my touch.
That being said, I love the choice we are given. This is the best PDA I have ever owned, and that is only the very basic function that I started with when moving from a Palm TX, and we all know what else is on the device that brings it to the very cool, very productive, very entertaining device that it is.
Apps are a very big part of that.
Greg
Steam?
1,500,000,000 downloads and 65,000 applications in the first 12 months?
People hated it when it first came out, I don't think they got anywhere near those figures in their first year.
Doesn't matter. Steam has the "scale and quality" and above all else, was here before the App store. It seems like I'm always reading people saying the App store is revolutionary, the first of it's kind, and unmatched. Steam was around long before and it's the exact same concept! Shame on other companies for not copying Steam sooner, and props to Apple for doing just that, but screw them to make people think they came up with the idea.
Sorry for sounding so bitter today. I'm tired an annoyed
Wait, isn't 1,5 billion / 40 million = 37,5 apps per device capable of downloading from the app-store? Taking into account that not every device is working/used, or that not everyone is downloading like crazy (I consider myself a normal user and downloaded about 30 apps) does that mean some users have, like, close to a hundred apps on their phone?
Sounds like a lot...
I consider myself a pretty normal user too. I currently have 139 downloaded apps in my Library (not all installed on my iPhone right now), but I've downloaded more than that. Most of the apps I've discarded were free and either no good or I replaced them with better versions or better apps.
Doesn't matter. Steam has the "scale and quality" and above all else, was here before the App store. It seems like I'm always reading people saying the App store is revolutionary, the first of it's kind, and unmatched. Steam was around long before and it's the exact same concept! Shame on other companies for not copying Steam sooner, and props to Apple for doing just that, but screw them to make people think they came up with the idea.
Sorry for sounding so bitter today. I'm tired an annoyed
Steam is great, perhaps, as related to games?
But the App Store has a broader appeal including productivity and utilities related to the specialized hardware (GPS, motion sensor, magnetometer, etc.)
Honestly, as a middle-aged adult, I would not make my way quickly or easily to a third-party site, and the mere convenience of a native store like Apple's gives such tight integration that makes my experience much more seamless.
Unrelated to your post, but to the original article, Apple's profit is a moot point. It was all about barrier to entry (for competitors) and competitive advantage/appeal for the iPhone platform. Let's be honest, the App Store is likely a walk-off grandslam. Once all the carrier issues and 4G roll around, Apple will likely be the defacto smartphone, like the iPod to MP3-like players.
I consider myself a pretty normal user too. I currently have 139 downloaded apps in my Library (not all installed on my iPhone right now), but I've downloaded more than that. Most of the apps I've discarded were free and either no good or I replaced them with better versions or better apps.
Haha! I do the same thing...makes me feel like a kid upgrading and filling in a collectible toy set. It's oddly kind of a grown-up/geek crack.
Seriously, the level of personalization of one's iPhone with Apps is extremely endearing. Even arranging the Apps on pages.
Steam is great, perhaps, as related to games?
But the App Store has a broader appeal including productivity and utilities related to the specialized hardware (GPS, motion sensor, magnetometer, etc.)
Honestly, as a middle-aged adult, I would not make my way quickly or easily to a third-party site, and the mere convenience of a native store like Apple's gives such tight integration that makes my experience much more seamless.
I'm not trying to discredit the app store's significance and importance, it's just that the whole model is so parallel to what steam is that it's pretty obvious they took a lesson or two from it's success.
The app store is common sense. I've always felt that. As I got into steam long before the app store was around, I felt the same way. Like you said though, it's focus is on games and the App store offers a broader range of things to download, BUT, my point still stands: When Apple says the App store is revolutionary, or a fanboy points to the app store and says nobody's ever done it before, I get mildly annoyed since I've been using steam for such a long time now.
I'm not trying to discredit the app store's significance and importance, it's just that the whole model is so parallel to what steam is that it's pretty obvious they took a lesson or two from it's success.
The app store is common sense. I've always felt that. As I got into steam long before the app store was around, I felt the same way. Like you said though, it's focus is on games and the App store offers a broader range of things to download, BUT, my point still stands: When Apple says the App store is revolutionary, or a fanboy points to the app store and says nobody's ever done it before, I get mildly annoyed since I've been using steam for such a long time now.
When Steve said the app store "is like nothing the industry has ever seen before in both scale and quality", it was pretty clear to me he was talking about the mobile phone/device industry, not the PC industry.
We ALL know that many folks download these app's just to try them out.
And let us now forget iPod Touch - how many of these have been sold?
Hell, I downloaded (27 app's) - the FREE app's I could each day, week, month during the contest, (to get to a Billion) and not a ONE of these is on my iPod touch. Although I do still have them in my downloads folder.
Skip
Wait, isn't 1,5 billion / 40 million = 37,5 apps per device capable of downloading from the app-store? Taking into account that not every device is working/used, or that not everyone is downloading like crazy (I consider myself a normal user and downloaded about 30 apps) does that mean some users have, like, close to a hundred apps on their phone?
Sounds like a lot...
I would imagine far more than 50% are downloaded, tried, and then deleted.
Wait, isn't 1,5 billion / 40 million = 37,5 apps per device capable of downloading from the app-store? Taking into account that not every device is working/used, or that not everyone is downloading like crazy (I consider myself a normal user and downloaded about 30 apps) does that mean some users have, like, close to a hundred apps on their phone?
Sounds like a lot...
That's not a lot at all: It's a little over two home-screens worth of app downloads (at 16 per screen). I have about 3.5 screens of apps myself (56 in all), and do not consider myself a power user in any way. Btw, only 3 out of the 56 are paid apps (i.e., roughly 1 in 20, within the range of what the article suggests).
It's downloads ? not used, bought, paid for, just downloads.
We ALL know that many folks download these app's just to try them out.
And let us now forget iPod Touch - how many of these have been sold?
Hell, I downloaded (27 app's) - the FREE app's I could each day, week, month during the contest, (to get to a Billion) and not a ONE of these is on my iPod touch. Although I do still have them in my downloads folder.
The Touch is included in the 40 million number.
When Steve said the app store "is like nothing the industry has ever seen before in both scale and quality", it was pretty clear to me he was talking about the mobile phone/device industry, not the PC industry.
If I copied the app store and put it on a refrigerator, then said there was nothing like it, I'd still be completely full of shit. Bottom line is the app store isn't some brand new concept, and yes, the computer technology industry has seen the scale and quality before with steam. It's just weaselly comments from Steve Jobs plain and simple. To me "the industry" does blend smartphones with computers. I guess I'm just nitpicking.