Apple Announces First-Year App Store Success: 1.5 Billion Downloads, 65,000 Apps

[Ntombi]

The fart apps jokes are getting a tad bit old.

Seriously.

Like QCassidy352 said so well, there are thousands of apps that aren't games and aren't silly to be bought. And even if some apps are silly, so freakin' what? People are allowed a little levity in their lives (and phones) without the delivery system being dismissed as worthless. I have some games and the occasional iPint and LightSaber myself, and I don't feel bad about any of it.



As for the deletion question, I just checked, and I have 138 apps in my iTunes, and probably have about 80 in my iPhone (BTW, that's a much higher retention rate than I had on my Palm devices). Of those, I use probably 20 weekly, but the rest are there in case I need them, like Pet First Aid, or WhitePages Mobile. That doesn't make them less important.

Though I hope I'll never have to use Pet First Aid, I'm very glad to have it.

 

[BornAgainMac]

I am surprised the number of Apps wouldn't go down or level off after 3.0. I noticed many Apps will be the same app but support a different region or city. For example a App that covers the Lakers Basketball and another one that covers the Cavaliers from the same developer. With 3.0 they could have made 1 App that allows you to add on what you need. Those Apps just clutter up the store that could easily be combined.

 

[sbrhwkp3]

65,000 apps ... about 30 that are truly useful.

... to you.

 

[Goona]

Seriously.

Like QCassidy352 said so well, there are thousands of apps that aren't games and aren't silly to be bought. And even if some apps are silly, so freakin' what? People are allowed a little levity in their lives (and phones) without the delivery system being dismissed as worthless. I have some games and the occasional iPint and LightSaber myself, and I don't feel bad about any of it.



As for the deletion question, I just checked, and I have 138 apps in my iTunes, and probably have about 80 in my iPhone (BTW, that's a much higher retention rate than I had on my Palm devices). Of those, I use probably 20 weekly, but the rest are there in case I need them, like Pet First Aid, or WhitePages Mobile. That doesn't make them less important.

Though I hope I'll never have to use Pet First Aid, I'm very glad to have it.

If Apple had not allowed some of these so called useless apps, there would be more outrage.

As for deleting apps, we also delete programs from our computers, so why can't we do it on our iphone. I don't delete the apps I paid for but for the free ones I delete the ones I don't want on my phone because I can always go back and redownload it if I need it.

 

[Ntombi]

If Apple had not allowed some of these so called useless apps, there would be more outrage.

As for deleting apps, we also delete programs from our computers, so why can't we do it on our iphone. I don't delete the apps I paid for but for the free ones I delete the ones I don't want on my phone because I can always go back and redownload it if I need it.

Be careful, because some of the free ones change to paid, and I don't know if they can charge you. But I just delete from the phone and leave them on my iTunes, unless I positively know I won't ever want it again.


And you're right; I wouldn't download a fart app, but I was among the outraged when it was first rejected.

 

[iPhoneNYC]

I don't think even Apple anticipated the huge success that the Apps would be. The big deal is that developers out there created 65,000 of them both for mass use and niche markets. There is indeed an App for that. The Apps by far make the iPhone the most incredible device out there as each users has the ability to create a highly personal instrument. Now if only there was an App to get rid of ATT...

 

[seedster2]

Are they padding their stats with updates to apps as well?

Apple, like most techs, has some duplicitous marketing teams

 

[Goona]

Are they padding their stats with updates to apps as well?

Apple, like most techs, has some of the duplicitous marketing teams

How can you prove they are?

 

[NinjaHERO]

Wow, good luck to everyone trying to get their new apps discovered. That place is crowded.

 

[mkrishnan]

I'd be more interested to know out of that 1.5 Billion how many are still residing on a device and not in the Trash.

I'd just like to offer a counterpoint... I think I'm like everyone else in that I've downloaded and deleted a lot of free apps. I've got some paid ones too that are in my iTunes but not on my iPhone because I'm done playing them. In the latter case, I don't see how this is any different from how anything has ever been. No one says, "Wow. 60 million XBox games sold (or whatever). I wonder how many of those games were played in the last 24 hours." It's the normal way of things to get a game, play it, and then stop playing it very often.

For the former case, I think it's a valid point that I stop using apps after some time, and only a few stay on my iPhone for a long time. On the other hand, however, it's also true that, since the App Store has come out, I spend a significant amount of the time I use my iPhone using someone's App Store app. It shifts over time. For the past several months, I walked to work listening to NPR Tuner. When I first got to Chicago, I used UrbanSpoon extensively. Right now, I use AirMouse a lot. But the point is that, even if it's not always the same app, I'm using the apps a lot.

I don't think that's atypical for the people who downloaded the average 37.5 apps or whatever. So what if an app gets used by me a little, if I'm using apps altogether a lot?

 

[seedster2]

How can you prove they are?

Are you attempting to answer my question or just coming to 's defense again?

 

[:Rob:]

blablabla

I dunno exactly how many app I downloaded in 1 year of iphone...but I know I'm currently using 3 apps Stanza, Skype and...and ...what was the third one...

 

[aristotle]

Are you attempting to answer my question or just coming to 's defense again?

Are you trying to make up stuff out of thin air and call it a fact?

 

[Schizoid]

Zune Applications

In the interests of balance I think we should include the Applications sales for Microsoft's Zune portable wooden MP3 device.

It's hardly fair to look only at Apple's astounding sales figures, Microsoft are a world-leader in technology and their products have some equally impressive graphs attached to them...

 

[North Bronson]

I am surprised the number of Apps wouldn't go down or level off after 3.0. I noticed many Apps will be the same app but support a different region or city. For example a App that covers the Lakers Basketball and another one that covers the Cavaliers from the same developer. With 3.0 they could have made 1 App that allows you to add on what you need. Those Apps just clutter up the store that could easily be combined.

But then developers wouldn't get to crowd up the "What's New" page with twenty nearly-identical apps released simultaneously. . .

 

[Goona]

Are you attempting to answer my question or just coming to 's defense again?

No I want you to prove what you're saying, because we have to take Apple's word. If they say they have 1.5 billion downloads, we take their word. If they say they sold 40 million iphones and ipod touches, we take their word for it. If they say they have 29 billion in the bank we take their word for it. Anything else is conjecture, if you feel they're lying go talk to the SEC.

 

[aperry]

I'm quite sure this includes app updates, which is why these numbers are always carefully described as "downloads" rather than "apps".

So this acceleration probably isn't as remarkable as some people seem to think. Also, consider that 3.0 required updated versions of most apps.

I'd say it's very possible that the rate of "new" app downloads per-person has slowed in the last 6 months. But of course that data doesn't seem to be present so we'll never know.

I know that personally I download far fewer apps these days than I did during the first 6 months. I think the app store is currently 95% crap. But that's just me!

 

[seedster2]

Are you trying to make up stuff out of thin air and call it a fact?

No I want you to prove what you're saying, because we have to take Apple's word. If they say they have 1.5 billion downloads, we take their word. If they say they sold 40 million iphones and ipod touches, we take their word for it. If they say they have 29 billion in the bank we take their word for it. Anything else is conjecture, if you feel they're lying go talk to the SEC.

Again, my original posting was a question. Are these all unique app downloads or are they padding their statistics with updates counting towards the overall download totals.

If either of you have anything to contribute in answering the question, feel free. Otherwise save the SEC nonsense and the bootlicking for someone else

 

[Goona]

Right I'll choose to beleive Apple than believe any assumptions that a random dude on the internet has.

 

[sososowhat]

Guess: 10% Paid?

I've no data, but what do you think? 150M paid downloads & 1350M free ones?

Again, no data, but I'd imagine many people download no apps at all. Ok, not people on this forum, but I imagine many. So average/device of downloaders is 50? 75? That's a lot of apps to provide any useful value.

 

[kdarling]

Again, my original posting was a question. Are these all unique app downloads or are they padding their statistics with updates counting towards the overall download totals.

Apple marketing has a history of using raw, and sometimes meaningless, numbers.

For example, the number of "developers" and "sdk downloads" has jumped each time there's a new beta release. Of course, most of those newcomers have zero clue about programming... they just want access to the beta software.

I've no data, but what do you think? 150M paid downloads & 1350M free ones?

Some analysts think it's more like 20-40 :1, paid to free. Typical article here.

From all reports and the discussions I've had, very few developers have made a living off the app store either, due to the number of free and/or rival apps available.

 

[inkswamp]

Are they padding their stats with updates to apps as well?

Apple, like most techs, has some duplicitous marketing teams

I'd like to know that too. They don't specify if it's first-time downloads or downloads period. Every time an app is updated, I have to download the entire thing over again. If they're counting that and announcing it in a press release that implies every one of those downloads was a new app, then it's a bit misleading.

And "duplicitous marketing teams?" Let's not get too carried away. Surely you've never worked in or around marketing people. Their job is to make the company or product look good. Doesn't mean you have to believe everything they tell you, but there's no point in calling them names for putting whatever spin on things makes their company look good.

Right I'll choose to beleive Apple than believe any assumptions that a random dude on the internet has.

As if "random dude on the internet" is any more or less reliable than some random marketing person.

 

[BillyBobBongo]

So what if an app gets used by me a little, if I'm using apps altogether a lot?

I'm certainly not trying to say that the App Store is bad or hasn't been successful. I just feel that Apple seems to be blowing their own trumpet on this issue. It's all well and good saying you've had X amounts of downloads but there's a lot of free rubbish out there that although these downloads push up the stats is that really something to be shouting from the fooftops?!

Meh, maybe I'm just getting old an cynical!

 

[Goona]

I'd like to know that too. They don't specify if it's first-time downloads or downloads period. Every time an app is updated, I have to download the entire thing over again. If they're counting that and announcing it in a press release that implies every one of those downloads was a new app, then it's a bit misleading.

And "duplicitous marketing teams?" Let's not get too carried away. Surely you've never worked in or around marketing people. Their job is to make the company or product look good. Doesn't mean you have to believe everything they tell you, but there's no point in calling them names for putting whatever spin on things makes their company look good.



As if "random dude on the internet" is any more or less reliable than some random marketing person.

The random marketing person in this case would be Apple?

 

[windywoo]

The random marketing person in this case would be Apple?

Who in hell would describe Apple's marketing as reliable? Who in hell would trust any marketing from any company. They will always big up the numbers to make themselves look better. For instance, millions of colours on an iMac.