Apple’s App Store for iOS devices has reached another milestone, passing the incredible 25 billion download mark over the weekend.
The 25 billionth app downloaded was a free one called ‘Where’s My Water?’ – a Disney app – and the lucky downloader was Chunli Fu of Qingdao, China. Why is he lucky? Well, his free download has scored him practically unlimited app downloads for life, as Apple has given him a $10,000 iTunes gift card.
Apple gave away a $10,000 gift card when it hit 10 billion app downloads in January of 2011, again for a free app: Paper Glider. A further 5 billion downloads were achieved within six months, when Apple hit 15 billion downloads in July 2011. A little over 7 months later and we’re at 25 billion – showing that twice as many apps have been downloaded the last 6 months.
Apple issued a statement in an official press release, thanking its customers:
“We’d like to thank our customers and developers for helping us achieve this historic milestone of 25 billion apps downloaded. When we launched the App Store less than four years ago, we never imagined that mobile apps would become the phenomenon they have, or that developers would create such an incredible selection of apps for iOS users.”
The figures go to show the rate at which Apple’s devices are being adopted by the public, and indeed the rate at which people are downloading apps. The App Store has been around for 4 years now and currently holds over 550,000 apps which can be downloaded in 123 countries.
With the speed at which Apple is reaching these download milestones, many expect the 50 billion mark to be reached within 12-18 months of now.
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