Apple today announced that its iTunes App Store has seen 15 billion app downloads till date. The release is filled with developer quotes as the App Store completes 3 years in completion. While the records show 5 billion downloads a year, seeing the momentum that Apple has built up, we are estimating over 12 billion app downloads a year (by the 200 million odd iOS users).
Last month at WWDC Apple announced that the App Store has seen 14 billion downloads. Its exactly a month since WWDC in June and we are seeing the number soar by a billion to 15 billion. That equals to 1 billion app downloads a month. Apple has 425,000 apps for the iPhone / iPod touch and over 100,000 apps for the iPad already.
Apple has paid out $2.5 billion to developers already, which means it has made over a billion for itself as well from the App Store. However the ultimate value for Apple is the USP that App Store acts for its iOS devices. Honeycomb tablets bombed due to poor app supply, iPhone has stiff competition from Dual-core Androids, but Apps makes it stand out. With a billion app downloads every month, the figure would only increase by end of the year with iPhone 4s / 5 showing up and iPad plus rumors buzzing. And no one is talking about iPod touch 5 yet!