In Odd Coincidence, App Store Hits Three Billion Downloads Milestone on GPhone Day
Apple’s iTunes App Store has hit another milestone: More than three billion applications downloaded. Impressive, considering it has been a little over three months since the App Store crossed the two-billion-downloads mark. Even more so when you remember, as CEO Steve Jobs reminds us in a gloating press release, that those three billion applications were downloaded in under 18 months.
“Three billion applications downloaded in less than 18 months–this is like nothing we’ve ever seen before,” said Jobs. “The revolutionary App Store offers iPhone and iPod touch users an experience unlike anything else available on other mobile devices, and we see no signs of the competition catching up anytime soon.”
Sadly for “the competition,” there’s really no disagreeing with Jobs. At present, there are some 127,632 applications available for the iPhone and iPod touch, according to 148Apps.biz, which tracks such things.
There are a little over 4,000 apps available for Research in Motion’s (RIMM) BlackBerry, 800-plus available for Palm’s (PALM) Pre and Pixi and some 18,000 available for devices running Google’s (GOOG) Android OS, among them the Nexus One, the super-smartphone Google will uncrate later this morning.
And speaking of the Nexus One, what an odd coincidence that the App Store would hit a milestone like this on the very day that Google is to launch its flagship Android device, eh? You couldn’t ask for better timing from a PR perspective, could you?