Apple hits 15 Billion app downloads while producing 14 million iPads per quarter

Posted:
in iPad edited January 2014
Apple announced a new milestone of 15 billion apps downloaded through its iOS App Store, an installed base of 200 million iOS devices and a library of 425,000 apps, 100,000 of which are natively optimized for iPad.



Apple just reported hitting the 14 billion app milestone early last month at WWDC, indicating that roughly a billion apps are now being downloaded through the App Store each month. The iPad app library numbers were also up by 10,000, jumping from the 90,000 number cited in June.



The new announcement comes on the heels of a report by DigiTimes that Apple has boosted production of iPads to reach as many as 14 million units this quarter. The company is expected to report sales of 7 to 9 million iPads for the quarter that just ended in June.



Since the launch of iPad 2 this spring, Apple has suffered "the mother of all backlogs" in the words of chief operations officer Tim Cook. The launch was complicated by a disastrous earthquake that caused widespread damage in Japan, affecting many of Apple's component suppliers.



Sales of the iPad hit 7.33 million in the winter quarter, followed by sales of just 4.69 in the first calendar quarter of 2011 as buyers anticipated the launch of iPad 2. For weeks, Apple was unable to meet demand for the new tablet as long lines gave way to simply empty shelves.



There's an app for that



While Apple scrambles to build enough iPads to satiate global demand, it has had little problem attracting third party development. Apple noted it has paid developers $2.5 billion in app sales to date, creating a firestorm of software development that has made the iPad increasingly more attractive to users.



Apple's press release featured three developers extolling the virtues of iPad, including Dr. Ge Wang, a Smule co-founder and assistant professor at Stanford's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics.



Dr. Wang stated, "We sparked musical magic when iPhone users experienced Ocarina three years ago. And now with iPad, we've created the Magic Piano and Magic Fiddle apps. Who could've dreamt an iPad would make its way into the San Francisco Symphony?"



Mark Rein, vice president and co-founder of Epic Games said, "iPad provides us with an unparalleled mobile device for creating gorgeous, immersive games," said. "Infinity Blade has been a runaway hit with customers around the world and we couldn't be more excited about our success on iOS devices."



Nicholas Callaway, CEO of Callaway Digital Arts stated, "we're bringing Martha Stewart, Angelina Ballerina, Sesame Street and many more of the world's most popular books and magazines to iPad. We knew the iPad was going to be a revolutionary storytelling device, but never could have anticipated it would become so popular, so quickly."

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 17
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    In related news, Google also reached a new milestone today. Out of the 127 or whatever apps that are available for Android tablets, they have now managed to reach a grand total of 792 downloads since the market first opened. Google has promised to write a check for $246.23 which will be paid out and split between the developers.
  • Reply 2 of 17
    pendergastpendergast Posts: 1,358member
    Can someone confirm or provide insight into how the numbers are counted? Is it original downloads only? Does it include updates? Re-downloading the same app?
  • Reply 3 of 17
    inklinginkling Posts: 768member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Pendergast View Post


    Can someone confirm or provide insight into how the numbers are counted? Is it original downloads only? Does it include updates? Re-downloading the same app?



    I'm sure, given the number's sheer size, it's all downloads including updates. It may even include already paid for downloads to a new device under the same account. That grossly inflates the numbers. Some of my iPhone apps have been updated a dozen or more times.



    I'm really disappointed that Apple Insider and other Mac news sites aren't pointing this out and insisting that Apple give us the more useful figures, especially the total quarterly sales for free and paid apps. Those numbers would mean something.



    I regularly download free or briefly free apps, only to discard them after finding that they're not that useful. And yet despite my lack of interest, iTunes still keeps updating them. Both the original download and the update feed Apple's numbers, but they mean nothing.
  • Reply 4 of 17
    pendergastpendergast Posts: 1,358member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Inkling View Post


    I'm sure, given the number's sheer size, it's all downloads including updates. It may even include already paid for downloads to a new device under the same account. That grossly inflates the numbers. Some of my iPhone apps have been updated a dozen or more times.



    And you know this, how? Because the number is too unimaginable? I asked for confirmation.
  • Reply 5 of 17
    cloudgazercloudgazer Posts: 2,161member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Inkling View Post


    I regularly download free or briefly free apps, only to discard them after finding that they're not that useful. And yet despite my lack of interest, iTunes still keeps updating them. Both the original download and the update feed Apple's numbers, but they mean nothing.



    If you want a number that has no such distortion just remember that Apple had paid out $2.5bn back at the WWDC - so given that the average price is probably I strongly suspect that they're not including updates. People just download more apps than you might imagine.
  • Reply 6 of 17
    hittrj01hittrj01 Posts: 753member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Inkling View Post


    I'm sure, given the number's sheer size, it's all downloads including updates. It may even include already paid for downloads to a new device under the same account. That grossly inflates the numbers. Some of my iPhone apps have been updated a dozen or more times.



    I'm really disappointed that Apple Insider and other Mac news sites aren't pointing this out and insisting that Apple give us the more useful figures, especially the total quarterly sales for free and paid apps. Those numbers would mean something.



    I regularly download free or briefly free apps, only to discard them after finding that they're not that useful. And yet despite my lack of interest, iTunes still keeps updating them. Both the original download and the update feed Apple's numbers, but they mean nothing.



    I think your logic is wrong, and stating as fact like it's been proven is a bigger error than AppleInsider not mentioning it one way or another.



    So far, there have been over 200 million iOS devices sold (http://www.bgr.com/2011/06/06/over-2...million-ipads/

    Let's assume the if we count repeat buyers, that this equates to roughly 130 million unique users, which could be right or wrong, I don't know, I couldn't find any definitive evidence of this.



    On my phone, I currently have 108 applications, which looking at other people's phones seems pretty average, so we'll assume most people have about 100 apps, some a lot less, some a lot more. This doesn't even include ones I've downloaded and no longer have on my device.



    If you take 130 million unique users and multiply that by 100, that would get you 13 billion apps downloaded. Just guessing and rounding, that's pretty close to what Apple is claiming, so I'm going to go ahead and say that number is only new app downloads, not updates or anything else.



    edit: I forgot during my post that I could check iTunes in the Cloud to see my exact number of unique apps downloaded, and between iPhone/iPod touch and iPad apps, I've downloaded 659 apps over the last four years, so it seems absolutely reasonable that Apple's numbers reflect only new downloads.
  • Reply 7 of 17
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Inkling View Post


    I'm sure, given the number's sheer size, it's all downloads including updates. It may even include already paid for downloads to a new device under the same account. That grossly inflates the numbers. Some of my iPhone apps have been updated a dozen or more times.



    I'm really disappointed that Apple Insider and other Mac news sites aren't pointing this out and insisting that Apple give us the more useful figures, especially the total quarterly sales for free and paid apps. Those numbers would mean something.



    I regularly download free or briefly free apps, only to discard them after finding that they're not that useful. And yet despite my lack of interest, iTunes still keeps updating them. Both the original download and the update feed Apple's numbers, but they mean nothing.



    You're really disappointed that AI and other Apple news sites don't freely speculate about the numbers sans information and evidence? Just because you're "sure" and have an opinion about what the numbers "may even include" doesn't mean you're right, and it doesn't mean AI or anyone else is obliged to share your suspicions.



    I don't see where it's out of the question that these numbers represent unique downloads (and I disagree that apps that get downloaded and immediately discarded "don't count").
  • Reply 8 of 17
    cloudgazercloudgazer Posts: 2,161member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hittrj01 View Post


    edit: I forgot during my post that I could check iTunes in the Cloud to see my exact number of unique apps downloaded, and between iPhone/iPod touch and iPad apps, I've downloaded 659 apps over the last four years, so it seems absolutely reasonable that Apple's numbers reflect only new downloads.



    App-Slut! Seriously, what is amazing about the App Store is that we can download little crappy apps for free or a single dollar and not be worrying that we're going to catch computer cooties. Considering how utterly previous things like the Ovi store failed, it's astonishing.
  • Reply 9 of 17
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Inkling View Post


    I'm sure, given the number's sheer size, it's all downloads including updates. It may even include already paid for downloads to a new device under the same account. That grossly inflates the numbers. Some of my iPhone apps have been updated a dozen or more times.



    I'm really disappointed that Apple Insider and other Mac news sites aren't pointing this out and insisting that Apple give us the more useful figures, especially the total quarterly sales for free and paid apps. Those numbers would mean something.



    I regularly download free or briefly free apps, only to discard them after finding that they're not that useful. And yet despite my lack of interest, iTunes still keeps updating them. Both the original download and the update feed Apple's numbers, but they mean nothing.



    I'm with you on this. It must include updates. Say there are actually 200 active devices, the

    15B downloads = 75 per device, plausible, but does not fit the pattern I observe among many users. Apple announced 10B in January. So at 15B now, 25 apps per device occurred in the last 6 months. I cannot believe that. But if 200 MM

    Devices beach had 10 apps updated twice in the last 6 months, that alone would be 4B apps. Worse, we know not all 200MM devices are active, any many apps received more than 2 updates in the last 6 months. I can confirm across 4 devices over 500 downloads (mostly updates) in the last 6 months.
  • Reply 10 of 17
    mjtomlinmjtomlin Posts: 2,673member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Pendergast View Post


    Can someone confirm or provide insight into how the numbers are counted? Is it original downloads only? Does it include updates? Re-downloading the same app?



    Apple has stated on several occasions, that they only count new downloads. Not updates, or re-downloads.



    Given the number of iOS devices currently in use (200+ million) and the number of new iOS devices Apple sells every month (about 10 million and growing), a 30 million a day app download rate is not that hard to imagine.



    I still download a handful of apps every month and I've owned an iOS device since Fall of '07.
  • Reply 11 of 17
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mjtomlin View Post


    Apple has stated on several occasions, that they only count new downloads. Not updates, or re-downloads.



    Given the number of iOS devices currently in use (200+ million) and the number of new iOS devices Apple sells every month (about 10 million and growing), a 30 million a day app download rate is not that hard to imagine.



    I still download a handful of apps every month and I've owned an iOS device since Fall of '07.



    Can you provide a link to one of those Apple disclaimers they do not include updates? The numbers are way too large IMO.
  • Reply 12 of 17
    mjtomlinmjtomlin Posts: 2,673member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Minnesota_Steve View Post


    Can you provide a link to one of those Apple disclaimers they do not include updates? The numbers are way too large IMO.



    No, I do not have any links to prove that, i believe I remember it being said on stage at one of Apple's events. However, there is an article over at MacWorld, and the writer states in the comments that this is what Apple has told him in the past.



    If you don't believe the numbers, then you should do your own research, otherwise remain ignorant.



    Today alone there were 29 app updates for me to download on iTunes... and then separately 10 more on my iPad... if Apple were counting all those as well, the numbers would be astronomical. In the passed six months I've probably downloaded more than a thousand updates to the 200 or so apps i've purchased/downloaded.



    Apple sells nearly 10 million iOS devices every month. New users have a habit of downloading TONS of apps at first. It's not hard to believe that these users are on average downloading a couple of dozen apps or more in the first month of use. That guesstimate alone is 240 million apps a month for NEW devices. It wouldn't take much more imagination to believe that the current 200+ million devices are downloading on average 3 more apps a month each.
  • Reply 13 of 17
    mjtomlinmjtomlin Posts: 2,673member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Minnesota_Steve View Post


    I'm with you on this. It must include updates. Say there are actually 200 active devices, the

    15B downloads = 75 per device, plausible, but does not fit the pattern I observe among many users. Apple announced 10B in January. So at 15B now, 25 apps per device occurred in the last 6 months. I cannot believe that. But if 200 MM

    Devices beach had 10 apps updated twice in the last 6 months, that alone would be 4B apps. Worse, we know not all 200MM devices are active, any many apps received more than 2 updates in the last 6 months. I can confirm across 4 devices over 500 downloads (mostly updates) in the last 6 months.





    You're logic and math is all wrong as you are not factoring in scale and growth of sales. You can't just take the number sold from the beginning (the past four years), you have to look at how many of those devices were sold in the same time frame as the app rate you're using. Apple sold around 60 million of those 200+ million iOS devices in the last 6 months. New users tend to buy/download apps at a rate WAY above average.



    Also, the 75 per device doesn't mean installed on the device - a user may only have 20 apps installed at any given time, but that doesn't mean they didn't download, test and then delete many more apps. I have done this many, many times with free apps just to test them out.
  • Reply 14 of 17
    cloudgazercloudgazer Posts: 2,161member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Minnesota_Steve View Post


    Can you provide a link to one of those Apple disclaimers they do not include updates? The numbers are way too large IMO.



    I have a very small number of Apps, maybe 20. I average at least 5 updates a month. So 80 over the lifetime of my iPhone-4. I updated a fortnight ago, and already I have 4 more to do.



    So if Apple were including updates 14billion would be incredibly small.
  • Reply 15 of 17
    Apple has stated it's unique downloads and not updates every single conference. If you want to hear it again, simply watch one of the conferences on apple.com. I'm not going to bother hunting for links because, honestly, it couldn't even conceivably make sense the number would be that small including updates and re-downloads. With at least 100 million users, that would mean the average person could only have 30 apps updated 5x and you'd have hit 15 billion. A glance at any group of 10 people's iPhones/iPads would quickly show you how far removed from reality such a fantasy would be. Even the least tech savvy people I know have 10 apps bare minimum and most phones I see are rocking pages of apps. Remember when the iPhone only allowed 100 or so apps and bloggers were complaining within 6 months of the release of 2.0 that they had maxed out? Those kind of numbers can't pOssible average down to 30 apps a person unless there was literally 90% of users getting a max of 1, maybe 2 apps.



    Anyway, it shows the amazing runaway success of the platform, and it should put in perspective why developers can sell apps for 99 cents and still pull in profits in the millions. The apple app store in another few years will become one of the only places where the word trillions is used outside of the united states national debt.
  • Reply 16 of 17
    matrix07matrix07 Posts: 1,993member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Inkling View Post


    I'm sure, given the number's sheer size, it's all downloads including updates. It may even include already paid for downloads to a new device under the same account. That grossly inflates the numbers. Some of my iPhone apps have been updated a dozen or more times.




    And what exactly give you the confidence to jump to this conclusion? My wife downloaded apps like crazy so I kinda could believe the number to be right exclude updating.



    Edit: Remember the 10 Billion downloads celebration not so long ago? It would be hilarious if the journos found out the 10Bth download is a mere update.
  • Reply 17 of 17
    bartfatbartfat Posts: 434member
    Yeah, sounds about right. 40 apps on my iPad that are exclusive to iPad, 109 apps on my iPhone that could run on either. Of course, this doesn't include apps that I've tested and thrown away. Ridiculous amount of money I've spent in the App Store, now that I think about it...



    If the average person downloaded just half of what I downloaded and tested, it'd be around 15 billion. So yeah.
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