Apple App Store Tops 50 Billion Downloads

Apple on Thursday announced that over 50 billion apps have been downloaded from its App Store to date. The way things are going now, Apple says it sees 800 apps downloaded per second, and over 2 billion per month. Talk about growth -- the App Store opened its virtual doors in July 2008 with just 500 apps; today there are more than 850,000 apps for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users in 155 countries.

"Apple would like to thank our incredible customers and developers for topping 50 billion apps downloaded," said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. "The App Store completely transformed how people use their mobile devices and created a thriving app ecosystem that has paid out over nine billion dollars to developers. We’re absolutely floored to cross this milestone in less than five years."

Apple iTunes

The road to 50 billion app downloads ended with a $10,000 App Store gift card, which was awarded to Brandon Ashmore from Mentor, Ohio for his impeccable timing. Ashmore was responsible for downloading the 50 billionth app, Say the Same Thing by Space Inch, LLC, earning himself the generous gift card.

This is quite the feat for Apple, and it should be pointed out that re-downloads and updates are not factored into the download total. It's the result of having a popular platform, one that has attracted developers to release apps in 23 different categories, including games, business, news, sports, and many more.