Apple 2.0

Mac news from outside the reality distortion field

Snapshot of the iPhone App Store: One year later


148Apps App Store flowerApple's (AAPL) App Store opened early on the morning of July 10, 2008 with an update to iTunes, although it wasn't until the next day — with the launch of iPhone OS 2.0 — that the applications it contained could be downloaded and put to use on iPhones or iPod touches.

There were more than 500 third-party apps in the store that morning. One year later, there are more than 56,000, according to 148Apps.biz, and that doesn't include the thousands of apps offered in the store's 60 or so foreign branches.

Jeff Scott, who runs 148Apps (named for the maximum number of applications that could be displayed on the original iPhone) gathers his information from the store itself by running a variety of automated data grabbers. His latest count, as of July 10, 2009:

Total Active Apps (currently available for download): 56,667

Total Inactive Apps (no longer available for download): 4,005

Total Apps Seen in US App Store: 60,672

Number of Active Publishers in the US App Store: 14,935

According to Apple, the one billionth app was downloaded at approximately 4:50 a.m. on April 23, 2009, by Conner Mulcahey, 13, of Weston, Conn. There is no official explanation for what he was doing up so early in the morning, checking out a contact-swapping app called Bump, but for his pains Apple awarded him an iPod touch, a Time Capsule, a MacBook Pro and a $10,000 iTunes gift card.

Growth of the store, as represented by the bar graph below, has been accelerating fairly steadily, with an average of 135 new app submissions every day. There were 1,630 submissions in August 2008 and 8,762 in June 2009.

appCountGraph

The average price of an app, including both the 12,754 free apps and the most expensive app (a video surveillance program called iRa with a $899.99 price tag) is $2.57.

If you wanted to buy every app in the U.S. store today, according to 148Apps, it would cost you $145,885.87.

The most popular category in the store is games, with a total of 10,346 to choose from, closely followed by Entertainment (7,852) and Books (7,564). There are 9097 finance programs, 663 medical apps, 306 weather applications, and according to Krapps.com's Alex Miro, at least 50 fart apps.

Click here to see our (fart-free) picks for the 10 dumbest iPhone apps.

See also:

Its lovely with so many apps1

But does anyone now why we cant by Cycorder on App store?

MatsRG

Myiphone

Posted By matsrg: July 11, 2009 11:12 AM

The App Store hits one billion downloads!by Megan Lavey on Apr 23rd 2009.

Shortly before 2 p.m. PDT (1:52 p.m.), the iTunes App Store hit 1,000,000,000 apps sold since it originally just nine months ago.

Posted By Mr Coke, La Verne, California: July 10, 2009 6:50 PM

According to Apple, the one billionth app was downloaded at approximately 4:50 a.m. on April 23, 2009, by Conner Mulcahey, 13, of Weston, Conn

was 4:50 am Cupertino time or Connecticut time?

ex ped: Connecticut time.

Posted By Mr Coke, La Verne, California: July 10, 2009 6:34 PM

Ever since iPhone OS 3.0 came out a few weeks ago some really inventive apps have hit the store. Like Adaptunes for example, it lets you listen to music just like the iPod but it adjusts your volume automatically when you move faster. It even works on my bike!

With apps like that coming out, the app store will see even bigger growth over the next year than it did over the last. I can't even imagine how cool apps will be in a year.

Posted By Steve Rogers – Chicago, IL: July 10, 2009 3:03 PM

I love my iPhone. Apps like PortfolioLive are worth the price of the phone itself. The AppStore is the best thing ever and bane for competitors.

Posted By Bogart534, Waxhaw, NC: July 10, 2009 2:54 PM

I second the Remote Masseuse nomination for dumbest app. I also could argue that any of the fart apps go on that list, perhaps iFart.

Posted By Jennifer, Fort Collins, CO: July 10, 2009 2:11 PM

Quite possibly the best undiscovered Apps have to be FlashCardz (math flash cards) and iSoundz (remote control sound player). But it's almost impossible to find high quality Apps on the App Store these days. Even the most popular review sites are overwhelmed and can't provide accurate and detailed reviews in a timely fashion.

Posted By Roberto, Raleigh, NC: July 10, 2009 1:46 PM

If you'd like to try your own App Store analysis to see if you can find any interesting trends, download two weeks of complete data at Busted Loop.

Posted By Josh Kastelein, Portland Maine: July 10, 2009 11:31 AM

One of your 10 dumbest apps *has* to be Remote Masseuse.

Posted By Andrew, Denver, CO: July 10, 2009 11:20 AM

Typo:

"until the next day — with the launch of iTunes 2.0"

Should READ: Launch of OS 2.0

ex ped; Thanks for the catch. Fixed.

Posted By Rattyuk, Naples, Florida: July 10, 2009 8:30 AM
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Philip Elmer-DeWitt

Philip Elmer-DeWitt
Steve Jobs, goes the old joke at Apple, is surrounded by a reality distortion field; get too close and you believe what he's saying. Apple has made believers out of millions of customers — and made a lot of investors rich — but Philip Elmer-DeWitt believes that an ounce of skepticism never hurts when writing about the company. He should know. He's been covering Apple – and watching Steve Jobs operate — since 1982.
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