Apple announced today that over 40 billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store and almost 20 billion of those were downloaded in 2012 alone, and this number excludes re-downloads and updates.
As of now, the App Store has more than 500 million active accounts and in December had a record-breaking two million downloads. There are more than 775,000 apps for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch and developers have been paid over seven billion dollars by Apple.
Eddy Cue, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services, said: “It has been an incredible year for the iOS developer community. Developers have made over seven billion 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.”
In 2012, Temple Run was downloaded more than 75 million times. Backflip Studios and Supercell, two game development studios, brought in more than $100 million combined for their freemium titles DragonVale and Clash of Clans. Emerging services like Uber, Flipboard, HotelTonight, and AirBnB also attracted millions of users on iOS.
“The success of our game Temple Run in 2012 was nothing short of astonishing. 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,” said Keith Shepherd, co-founder of Imangi Studios.
Calvin Carter, president of Bottle Rocket Apps, said “Bottle Rocket Apps now employs over 100 full-time employees, dedicated to nothing but building great apps. In my 20 plus years in technology, I have never seen such a vibrant marketplace for software like the App Store.”
The App Store is now available in 155 countries around the world with more than 300,000 native iPad apps. App Store customers can choose from 23 different app categories, including newspapers and magazines, games, business, news, sports, health and fitness and travel.
