App Store daily download rates now double December volumes

[AppleInsider]

Apple announced Friday that App Store customers have downloaded more than 500 million applications to date, indirectly revealing that per-day downloads have more than doubled since early December.

When AppleInsider last visited the numbers*early last month, Apple claimed over 300 million downloads.

Today's announcement means that in the 42 days since December 5th, another 200 million have been downloaded for an average rate of 4.76 million per day. That's more than twice the daily run-rate of 2.2 million apps per day witnessed last month.

Additionally, a banner on Apple's website reveals more than 15,000 apps have found their way to the*App Store's digital shelves since July.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[CU10]

The iPhone's Golden Touch:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...122902082.html

[MJ Web]

Wo! Cue some asshole analyst cutting Apple's target to $10? Come out from under your rock, Kathryn Hubbert!

[aaarrrgggh]

Good luck finding apps among the 15k though! Also, is it just me or are some apps grossly overpriced? (HP-12 emulator which is basically a port of the ROM for $20? To mimic my HP-48/49/50, you need to get the HP-12 and HP-15 for scientific and business functions... which sets you back $40!!!)

[Booga]

Originally Posted by aaarrrgggh

Good luck finding apps among the 15k though! Also, is it just me or are some apps grossly overpriced? (HP-12 emulator which is basically a port of the ROM for $20? To mimic my HP-48/49/50, you need to get the HP-12 and HP-15 for scientific and business functions... which sets you back $40!!!)

While I don't think things are as bad as you imply, there's certainly work to be done to let the valuable apps bubble to the top better. How many fart noise generators do we really need? (I don't even need my phone to accomplish that!)

[scooter72]

Well, we better downgrade the stock then! 12 month target is now 50.

It amazes me that Apple continues to grow like a weed, yet the stock does the opposite.

WTF

[NasserAE]

Amazing numbers. I guess this gives a general idea of how many iPhones were sold during that period. More than what people expected.

[mdriftmeyer]

Originally Posted by aaarrrgggh

Good luck finding apps among the 15k though! Also, is it just me or are some apps grossly overpriced? (HP-12 emulator which is basically a port of the ROM for $20? To mimic my HP-48/49/50, you need to get the HP-12 and HP-15 for scientific and business functions... which sets you back $40!!!)

You could always buy them:

http://www.amazon.com/HP-12C-Platinu...136248&sr=1-13

http://www.amazon.com/Hewlett-Packar...2136248&sr=1-1

Of course the cost is much greater.

[swim2383]

When I update from version 1.0.1 to 1.0.2 to 1.0.3 in a week are those all counted as separate app downloads in the .5B total? If that counts as 3 downloads, it's not nearly as impressive since some apps are updating twice a week.

[SpamSandwich]

The ratio of crap to usable apps is consistent with other things... 90% of everything is crap.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by SpamSandwich

The ratio of crap to usable apps is consistent with other things... 90% of everything is crap.

That would leave 1,500 non-craptasric apps. That sound pretty solid to me. But I found that the ratio changed much since the July launch.

PS: So does Apple now have more apps than any other single platform?

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by swim2383

When I update from version 1.0.1 to 1.0.2 to 1.0.3 in a week are those all counted as separate app downloads in the .5B total? If that counts as 3 downloads, it's not nearly as impressive since some apps are updating twice a week.

Since it is a seperate DL for each app revision that you actively need to start, I would say that each and every DL is included. Typical case of truth and nothing but the truth, just not the whole truth. Gotta love marketing!

[Wiggin]

Originally Posted by MJ Web

Wo! Cue some asshole analyst cutting Apple's target to $10? Come out from under your rock, Kathryn Hubbert!

Looks like the Royal Bank of Canada beat her to it.

http://forums.appleinsider.com/showt...threadid=94307

[DWS-2]

The iPhone / iPod Touch platform is going like crazy. Let's say 99% of it is not so good; that's still 150 good applications, which is amazing.

Also, there are a growing number of solid business task manager/database applications like Things (semi-pro), SplashID, and Tap Forms in addition to other good applications like Flight Tracker, Trip Cubby, Loan Shark and QuickVoice. There are also some decent PowerPoint and remote application control programs that work over wireless.

Of course, the games are where it's at for most people, but this is a surprising versatile device. I expect will see its use continue to grow dramatically.

[SpamSandwich]

I've found the biggest irritant for me is not having more than 9 available screens to hold apps. I need nearly double that.

[iphonedevguy]

Given the jump from 300M to 500M downloads between Dec 5 - Jan 16, and assuming free to paid apps download ratio of 3 to 1 and assuming a total of 19M iPhones in usage now (13M were when Q408 conference call), it means 1 in 15 iPhone users actually purchases an app daily on the App Store.
The target of 1B downloads, 25k apps and 30M iphones is fast reaching much before July 2009!

[MacVicta]

Originally Posted by solipsism

That would leave 1,500 non-craptasric apps. That sound pretty solid to me. But I found that the ratio changed much since the July launch.

PS: So does Apple now have more apps than any other single platform?

The only competitor I've seen a specific number from is Microsoft. In July after Apple opened the App Store, Microsoft was bragging that Windows Mobile had 18,000 apps while the iPhone had a lowly 500.

[SpamSandwich]

Originally Posted by MacVicta

The only competitor I've seen a specific number from is Microsoft. In July after Apple opened the App Store, Microsoft was bragging that Windows Mobile had 18,000 apps while the iPhone had a lowly 500.

Now there's enough crap to sift through for everyone!

[noel_h]

Whilst the number of devices out there is undoubtedly increasing, there are also other factors to consider in these figures:

- as someone else said, app update downloads may well be included in those figures
- lite/free versions of paid apps are becoming more popular, thus increasing the number of downloads i.e. a user may download the free then the paid version of the app
- a swings and roundabouts situation has arisen whereby developers can't get the attention they want for their apps, therefore aren't making the big bucks they'd hoped for, therefore are publishing more "ifart" apps to try and increase their income, thus making the situation worse.

[Charko]

Originally Posted by NasserAE

Amazing numbers. I guess this gives a general idea of how many iPhones were sold during that period. More than what people expected.

It gives more of an idea how amazingly successful the touch has become. Many believe it easily outsold the iPhone over Christmas.
After all, its got a faster processor, much longer battery life, and costs much, much less.

I do really hope that Apple will seperate the sales figures of the touch from those of the other iPods.
The tech 'pundits' will then certainly stop speaking ONLY of the iPhone when they talk about the App Store.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by MacVicta

The only competitor I've seen a specific number from is Microsoft. In July after Apple opened the App Store, Microsoft was bragging that Windows Mobile had 18,000 apps while the iPhone had a lowly 500.

But how many of essentially the same app are counted for each handset OS (perhaps even different handsets using the same OS), each carrier and each country?

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by aaarrrgggh

Good luck finding apps among the 15k though! Also, is it just me or are some apps grossly overpriced? (HP-12 emulator which is basically a port of the ROM for $20? To mimic my HP-48/49/50, you need to get the HP-12 and HP-15 for scientific and business functions... which sets you back $40!!!)

What is the price of the equivalent program on another handheld platform?

Is it really so simple to emulate a ROM?

As it is, just about any program over $3 has complaints about being "overpriced", the iPhone ecosystem has an incredible downward price pressure, it's amazing that apps that aren't about farts or flashlights make it to the store.

[ivan.rnn01]

lots of cute little things:
useful - Ave Developers!
mostly working - Ave Apple and its IPhoneKit!
well categorized, installing without any issues - Ave Apple and its iTunes...

"Looking forward to see our own apps there" (less and less believable though, the work and the family take it all, and regrets - if any - would not help)