App Store tops 40 billion downloads
Apple has this morning announced that customers have downloaded over 40 billion apps, with nearly 20 billion in 2012 alone.
Currently housing over 500 million active users, the App Store had a record-breaking December with over two billion downloads during the month.
The tech giant says their developer community has created over 775,000 apps for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users worldwide, and developers have been paid over seven billion US dollars by Apple.
“It has been an incredible year for the iOS developer community,” says Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services.
“Developers have made over seven billion US dollars on the App Store, and we continue to invest in providing them with the best ecosystem so they can create the most innovative apps in the world.”
Gaming
In 2012, the husband and wife team at Imangi Studios saw their game Temple Run downloaded more than 75 million times.
Backflip Studios and Supercell, two emerging game development studios, brought in over USD$100 million combined for their leading freemium titles DragonVale and Clash of Clans.
While emerging services including Uber, Flipboard, HotelTonight, and AirBnB attracted millions of users on iOS.
Companies including Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Autodesk, Marvel and Major League Baseball continued to expand their iOS offerings, while developers like JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot Interactive and Bottle Rocket Apps continued to push the boundaries of what iOS apps can do.
“The success of our game Temple Run in 2012 was nothing short of astonishing,” says Keith Shepherd, co-founder of Imangi Studios.
“We were simply looking to create a game that was fun and easy to play, but once it hit the App Store, the game took off.
"This past year, we saw more than 75 million downloads of Temple Run on iOS.”
The App Store currently offers over 775,000 apps to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users in 155 countries around the world, with more than 300,000 native iPad apps available.
App Store customers can choose from a range of apps in 23 categories, including newspapers and magazines offered in Newsstand, games, business, news, sports, health & fitness and travel.
