iPhone App Store continues to exceed iTunes song sales growth

[AppleInsider]

Mobile software sales for the iPhone and iPod touch continue to grow faster than even iTunes' groundbreaking song sales growth, building a critical mass to attract both new iPhone buyers and additional Cocoa Touch software development for Apple's mobile platform.

Steve Jobs uncharacteristically joined the Apple financial results conference call to answer questions and present some details about the growth Apple was seeing in various markets, but noted that in regard to iPhone software, "we've never seen anything like this in our careers."

Jobs said Apple would sell the 200 millionth app in the iPhone App Store by tomorrow, double the number of apps Apple distributed over the previous two months since the store opened.

In July, Apple announced that 10 million apps had been sold. By August, the company had shipped 50 million, and last month it noted a total of 100 million. Less than a month later, the 200 million milestone indicates that new growth is increasing rapidly along with new sales.

Apple also doubled its installed base of iPhones over the last quarter, which should help expand the demand for iPhone apps in the future. Even without any additional growth in mobile software sales, Apple is on track to sell a billion apps by next year.

For comparison, the iTunes Music Store opened a year and a half after the iPod first went on sale, the same period of time as between the Apps Store opening and the iPhone’s original sale date. It took Apple two months to sell 25 million songs, and two years to sell a billion. Mobile software sales appear set to continue the doubled pace of growth Apple experienced in the music business.

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Additional Coverage

Apple profits rise 26% on sales of 2.6M Macs, 6.8M iPhones
Notes of interest for Apple's Q4 2008 results call
Steve Jobs on Apple's cash, NetBooks, Apple TV, and Cheap PCs
iPhone App Store continues to exceed iTunes song sales growth

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[EyeNsteinNo]

How many free App's in the 200 million sold if any.

[wizard69]

Title says it all this is very impressive.

[SpamSandwich]

"Free" does represent a huge part of this figure, but it's very impressive in terms of sheer customer demand. There's an enormous amount of money to be made by an unlimited number of clever "hobbyist" developers, and getting involved early in the the App Store's existence is like getting in on the gold rush.

[Ireland]

Originally Posted by EyeNsteinNo

How many free App's in the 200 million sold if any.

If any?

[SpamSandwich]

Originally Posted by Ireland

If any?

Ipso facto!

[McDave]

Even though you'd expect the growth of a new service to out-perform that of an incumbent this is pretty amazing (updates aside). Just as Apple actively transitioned products; from iPod Mini to iPod Nano and iPod to iPhone, albeit in part as they're not identical product areas, could it be they'll move people off music to interactive apps? Effectively transitioning people to digital music only to marginalise that market.

McD

[Ireland]

It's fair to say that SDK looks very interesting

[JeffDM]

Where is the article that gives estimated breakdowns of sales volume at certain prices? I can't find it.

[melgross]

I thought he had said 200 million downloaded.

If so, assuming that sales are about 50% as they had been in the other previous announcements, they would have sold about 100 million.

That' pretty damn impressive!

Even if the average price is $3, that's $300 million in just a few months, with only about 12 million phones out there, and only about half of them able to use all the apps.

[SpamSandwich]

Originally Posted by Ireland

It's fair to say that SDK looks very interesting

Actually, I'm starting to weigh the cost of a new Mac just for the prospect of creating apps... Of course, I have to also learn programming...

It's a great sales and marketing tactic to float these stories of instantly wealthy developers who sell through the App Store. Like a lucky trip to Las Vegas.

[SpamSandwich]

Originally Posted by melgross

I thought he had said 200 million downloaded.

If so, assuming that sales are about 50% as they had been in the other previous announcements, they would have sold about 100 million.

That' pretty damn impressive!

Even if the average price is $3, that's $300 million in just a few months, with only about 12 million phones out there, and only about half of them able to use all the apps.

From the developer's perspective the gold rush is on. When thousands and thousands of apps have flooded the App Store the "instant" success (beyond novelty apps) will diminish, just like any other market where the cost of competing with a winning app and getting enough exposure will become more costly and less likely. I'm really thinking hard about a new iMac to jump into development.... it's the most exciting thing I've seen in years.

The apps that seem to do best right now are those that do something very well with a limited feature set. The most valuable part for the developers is the unvarnished customer feedback they get on the App Store.

Some developers, Jirbo in particular, I've noticed have flooded the App Store with a whole line of nearly identical, middling games hoping that one of them will hit. Other developers are doing some wildly original thinking with GPS data integration and unique interfaces...

The whole thing is astounding... I find myself scouring the App Store for hours now for cool new apps, instead of searching for music or movies.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by SpamSandwich

From the developer's perspective the gold rush is on. When thousands and thousands of apps have flooded the App Store the "instant" success (beyond novelty apps) will diminish, just like any other market where the cost of competing with a winning app and getting enough exposure will become more costly and less likely. I'm really thinking hard about a new iMac to jump into development.... it's the most exciting thing I've seen in years.

The apps that seem to do best right now are those that do something very well with a limited feature set. The most valuable part for the developers is the unvarnished customer feedback they get on the App Store.

Some developers, Jirbo in particular, I've noticed have flooded the App Store with a whole line of nearly identical, middling games hoping that one of them will hit. Other developers are doing some wildly original thinking with GPS data integration and unique interfaces...

The whole thing is astounding... I find myself scouring the App Store for hours now for cool new apps, instead of searching for music or movies.

Some of the best apps are the cheapest, seemingly least useful, such as the tiltmeter, which I seem to use a lot. Just used it to set up a new fish tank.

Or the resistance programs for electronics, as I never remember those stupid rhymes.

Or my Central Park program, which in its latest update now locates you near, or in the park, along with the map. Great stuff!

City Transit, is also very useful when a train isn't running and you have to change your travel plans.

There are many like those. I even bought a Roman numeral converter, as I can never remember which letter goes with which number.

The thing is, it's fun discovering these little programs, and whether they're free, or just cost a few bucks, it isn't daunting to get them.

[SpamSandwich]

Speaking of iMac.... can anyone point me to a speed comparison between a PowerMac G5 vs. the latest iMacs? I do a lot of 3D work, Photoshop and Illustrator work, GarageBand, and FinalCut Studio stuff (more Motion)... and I'm thinking about getting that new computer finally.

Thanks.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by SpamSandwich

Speaking of iMac.... can anyone point me to a speed comparison between a PowerMac G5 vs. the latest iMacs? I do a lot of 3D work, Photoshop and Illustrator work, GarageBand, and FinalCut Studio stuff (more Motion)... and I'm thinking about getting that new computer finally.

Thanks.

Do you have a comparison between the Powermac G5 models and the Mac Pro models?

Because Macworld did their test of the latest iMacs, and the 24" 3.06 GHz model was faster than a four core 2.66 GHz Mac Pro in Photoshop. I imagine the others might be as well, most of the time, unless they can use more than two cores, which, as far as I know, all those can't except for FCP. PS for sure can't.

[SpamSandwich]

Originally Posted by melgross

Do you have a comparison between the Powermac G5 models and the Mac Pro models?

Because Macworld did their test of the latest iMacs, and the 24" 3.06 GHz model was faster than a four core 2.66 GHz Mac Pro in Photoshop. I imagine the others might be as well, most of the time, unless they can use more than two cores, which, as far as I know, all those can't except for FCP. PS for sure can't.

I have a Dual 1.8 G5 PowerMac.... sounds like the iMac might be a good replacement. Things I hate about the PowerMac: the space it takes up, the power it uses and the HEAT it generates!

Do you have a link to the test you cited? Thanks, Mel.

UPDATE: I located their Speedmark 5 test results... looks like a top of the line 24" iMac whips my old machine pretty good. About double the speed at a much lower cost than what I previously paid.

So....when are the new iMacs coming out? Before year's end?

[melgross]

Originally Posted by SpamSandwich

I have a Dual 1.8 G5 PowerMac.... sounds like the iMac might be a good replacement. Things I hate about the PowerMac: the space it takes up, the power it uses and the HEAT it generates!

Do you have a link to the test you cited? Thanks, Mel.

Sure. Hmm, it's faster than the 8 core 2.8 GHz Mac Pro in PS as well, and almost the same speed in everything else, except 4D XL and Compressor, which use more cores.

http://www.macworld.com/article/1333...mimac2008.html

[melgross]

Originally Posted by SpamSandwich

I have a Dual 1.8 G5 PowerMac.... sounds like the iMac might be a good replacement. Things I hate about the PowerMac: the space it takes up, the power it uses and the HEAT it generates!

Do you have a link to the test you cited? Thanks, Mel.

UPDATE: I located their Speedmark 5 test results... looks like a top of the line 24" iMac whips my old machine pretty good. About double the speed at a much lower cost than what I previously paid.

So....when are the new iMacs coming out? Before year's end?

The rumors say November sometime.

Damn! I want my Mac Pro already. Fortunately, I have room.

But the iMac is a pretty damn good machine, and the 24" monitor is surprisingly good.

[SpamSandwich]

Originally Posted by melgross

The rumors say November sometime.

Damn! I want my Mac Pro already. Fortunately, I have room.

But the iMac is a pretty damn good machine, and the 24" monitor is surprisingly good.

Thanks for the info. Been putting this purchase off forever... I think it's time to do it.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by SpamSandwich

So....when are the new iMacs coming out? Before year's end?

Originally Posted by melgross

The rumors say November sometime.

I hope so, but I'm still thinking that since the iMac was updated with a Montevina-like Santa Rosa/Penryn in April and workstation-grade Nehelem CPUs will be introduced near the end of the year, that we won't see any new desktops until MWSF. And that includes a whole new Mac Mini-like device in aluminium case.

I really hope I'm wrong!

Originally Posted by melgross

Sure. Hmm, it's faster than the 8 core 2.8 GHz Mac Pro in PS as well, and almost the same speed in everything else, except 4D XL and Compressor, which use more cores.

I hope we get demo of Grand Central at MWSF. I hope that it can really really help apps like PS that aren't taking advantage of multiple cores, but I'm not sure if they will need to be rewritten to take advantage of provided Frameworks.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by solipsism

I hope so, but I'm still thinking that since the iMac was updated with a Montevina-like Santa Rosa/Penryn in April and workstation-grade Nehelem CPUs will be introduced near the end of the year, that we won't see any new desktops until MWSF. And that includes a whole new Mac Mini-like device in aluminium case.

I really hope I'm wrong!

Too bad, but Nehalem won't be on mid range desktops until next year, sometime in the first half. Only the Mac Pro will get that for now, and I wish they'd hurry up!

[Ireland]

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by melgross

Too bad, but Nehalem won't be on mid range desktops until next year, sometime in the first half. Only the Mac Pro will get that for now, and I wish they'd hurry up!

I thought the Workstation-grade chips were going into production in late 2009, and thought that was the chip designation for the Mac Pro.

PS: I've asked this before, but with the smaller chips sizes and less TDP of the desktop chips, could Apple be considering using a desktop-grade Montevina/Penryn chip in the next iMac which would increase the speed while lowering the price of the chip, thus giving them more profit pre sale? I doubt it, as they really prefer thinness over performance, but I still wonder this with each new revision.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by solipsism

I thought the Workstation-grade chips were going into production in late 2009, and thought that was the chip designation for the Mac Pro.

PS: I've asked this before, but with the smaller chips sizes and less TDP of the desktop chips, could Apple be considering using a desktop-grade Montevina/Penryn chip in the next iMac which would increase the speed while lowering the price of the chip, thus giving them more profit pre sale? I doubt it, as they really prefer thinness over performance, but I still wonder this with each new revision.

Workstation/server chips this quarter. Desktop class chips early sometime next year, and late next year, mobile versions.

Why would Apple change now? Penyrn will continue to improve over the next year.