Yesterday, Apple announced that there are now 85,000 apps in the app store and over two billion iPhone apps have been sold (although, of course, many apps are free). Apple said that more than half a billion apps were downloaded in the last three months alone. Indeed, it has been less than three weeks since Apple announced that there were over 75,000 apps and 1.8 billion downloads. A little history to put this in perspective:
- 7/10/08: App Store opens
- 7/14/08: 10 million apps sold; 800 apps available (Apple PR)
- 9/9/08: 100 million apps sold; 3,000 apps available. (Apple PR)
- 10/22/08: 200 million apps sold; 5,550 apps available (Macworld)
- 12/5/08: 300 million apps sold; 10,000 apps available (iPhone J.D.)
- 1/16/09: 500 million apps sold; 15,000 apps available (iPhone J.D.)
- 3/17/09: 800 million apps sold; 25,000 apps available (Macworld)
- 4/24/09: 1 billion apps sold; 35,000 apps available (Apple PR)
- 7/14/09: 1.5 billion apps sold; 65,000 apps available (Apple PR)
- 9/28/09: 2 billion apps sold; 85,000 apps available (Apple PR)
And because a picture is worth 1,000 words:
The growth in apps is nothing short of astonishing. When the App Store opened in July of 2008, I don't think that anyone honestly thought that there would be 2 billion apps sold barely more than a year later. And we still have a few months left in 2009, including the holiday buying season. How long will it take to hit 3 billion apps downloaded?