Shoppers at Apple’s App Store managed to hit the 10 billion download mark late Friday night, wrapping up the company’s download contest and winning someone a US$10,000 iTunes Gift Card. Apple started the countdown a week ago when the download count was at just over 9.5 billion.
“With more than 10 billion apps downloaded in just two and a half years — a staggering seven billion apps in the last year alone—the App Store has surpassed our wildest dreams,” commented Apple senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing Philip Schiller.
App Store downloads top 10 billion
The App Store is Apple’s iTunes-based service for selling and distributing third-party applications for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. At the beginning of the contest, Apple stated “As of today, nearly 10 billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store worldwide. Which is almost as amazing as the apps themselves. So we want to say thanks.”
Apple launched the App Store in mid 2008, and managed to hit the billion download mark only about nine months later. It took only 14 months from launch to hit the two billion download milestone, and by the 17 month mark had topped three million download mark.
Gail Davis of Orpington, Kent, UK, downloaded Paper Glider as the 10 billionth app. According to Apple, more than 350,000 apps are currently available at the App Store.
“The App Store has revolutionized how software is created, distributed, discovered and sold,” Mr. Schiller added. “While others try to copy the App Store, it continues to offer developers and customers the most innovative experience on the planet.”
[This article has been updated with information about the contest winner.]