According to AppShopper, a reputable iOS and Mac OS X app directory, over 400,000 apps are now available for download for iOS in Apple’s App Store (with over 500,000 being approved apps), or more precisely, 401,437. If AppShopper’s statistics are accurate, this is yet another milestone for Apple and iOS platform.
Sites like AppShopper and 148Apps displays App Store apps, according to some, in a more efficient way. While iTunes App Store and the Mac App Store are strong at searching, these are stronger on discovery. Unlike Apple’s App Stores, they also display recent price drops as they happen, allowing users to get great deals that would otherwise be buried deep within Apple’s database. But more importantly, websites like these display somewhat accurate statistics on how many apps the App Store currently hosts, and if AppShoper’s figures are to be believed, there’s a total of 401,437 iOS apps now available for download. Some of the newest apps, according to the site, include Play Ball Escape HD, an iPad game; Tie Dye Doodle, a clothes styling application; and WorkPlace, a business data organizer.
Apple’s App Store model is believed by many to have begun by accident, when the company’s previous iPhone development model, which consisted mainly of Web-based applications, failed to gain enough traction. Around that time, there were unofficial "App Stores" that were easy to set up on jailbroken devices. For a long time, that became the only way to distribute full-fledged iPhone Apps, until Apple released its official App Store one year later. Earlier this year, Apple released an App Store for Mac OS X with an update, although the iOS counterpart remains much more popular.
Apple has reached similar milestones in the past. While the marketplace first launched in June 2008 with as few as 500 apps (although it looked like a lot more back then), it quickly reached 7,500 in October of that year, and 100,000 just over one year later. As far as downloads, Apple reached the 1-billion count in late April of 2009, and as of January 2011, it stands at over 10 billion.
As of today, all of Apple’s main competitors own some kind of App Store, the most successful of which being Android’s App Market, currently with 200,000 apps.
(via AppAdvice)
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