When Apple launched its App Store in the summer of 2008, it took a mere 9 months for 1 billion apps to be downloaded. Five months later, that number became 2 billion. That kind of acceleration is far from modest, but it was just the beginning. Momentum picked up, and in March of 2012, Apple had announced that the 25 billionth app had been downloaded. As hard as it was to fathom, the momentum still showed no signs of slowing.
This week, the Cupertino firm has announced that the 50 billionth app has been downloaded from its App Store. That’s a doubling of the total in a mere 1 year and 2 months. Before you get wise and think that Apple counts re-downloads – it doesn’t: “50 billion unique downloads excluding re-downloads and updates.”
It took 1 year and 2 months after the App Store launch to reach 2 billion downloads, and currently, that’s the same amount of downloads the store receives every, single, month. At this rate, we’re bound to see 75 billion hit by next spring, and potentially 100 billion by next fall if the momentum continues to rise.
To celebrate the big 50, Apple awarded the person who was responsible for the landmark download, Brandon Ashmore from Ohio, a $10,000 App Store gift card. Don’t go spending it all in one place, Brandon!
Err, nevermind.