We always knew that Apple's App Store was a hit, but who could've foreseen the purchase of dollar apps emerging as a billion-dollar enterprise? Apple confirmed on Thursday just how big its little engine that could has become.
The Cupertino-based company announced that since the App Store's launch in 2008, users have downloaded more than 40 billion apps. Even more ridiculously, 20 billion of those downloads were made in 2012 alone. That's not a typo; in the last year alone, Apple doubled the entire lifetime downloads of the store. The month of December itself was home to over 2 billion downloads, breaking previous records easily. Apple was quick to note in its press release that the statistics weren't just good news for itself, as app developers saw more than $7 billion go into their pockets.
"It has been an incredible year for the iOS developer community," said Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. "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."
Apple also mentioned that the App Store offers over 775,000 apps and is home to more than 500 million active accounts.
In addition to announcing numbers, the company included some testimonials from a number of developers, including "Temple Run" developer Imangi and move/television producer JJ Abrams.
"The success of our game 'Temple Run' in 2012 was nothing short of astonishing," said Keith Shepherd, co-founder of Imangi Studios. "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. This past year, we saw more than 75 million downloads of 'Temple Run' on iOS."
"The App Store provided us with opportunities beyond our wildest dreams," added Bad Robot Interactive's JJ Abrams. "Our app Action Movie FX was designed to bring Hollywood special effects to anyone's self-made video, whether that be on an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, and we're just thrilled that millions of fans around the world were as excited as we were about the possibilities that this app brings."
