Apple App Store downloads top 15 billion

Apple has revealed in a statement issued Thursday [1] that its App Store for mobile devices such as the iPad and iPhone has topped 15 billion downloads.

The App Store currently hosts 425,000 apps for various iOS devices, as well as over 100,000 native to its iPad tablet.

Apple doesn't offer any additional details, such as a breakdown by category or what percentage of those downloaded apps were free vs. paid.

Based on the iTunes charts chronicling the top paid and free app downloads, it's clear the Games category dominates. For example, in the Paid Apps chart [2] , 24 of the top 25 apps are Games. The lone exception: a social networking app called WhatsApp Messenger.

Apple reaches the milestone as competitors increasingly push to gain a foothold in the app market, including Google's Android operating system and Microsoft's Windows Mobile software.

See photos of: Apple [3]

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Links

1. ^{^} in a statement issued Thursday (www.apple.com)
2. ^{^} in the Paid Apps chart (www.apple.com)
3. ^{^} Apple (mediagallery.usatoday.com)
4. ^{^} corrections.usatoday.com (corrections.usatoday.com)

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