Breaking News: App Store has passed 2 Billion Downloads! 85,000+mobile apps!

Today, Apple announced that more than 2 Billion apps have been
downloaded from the App Store. What is even more interesting is that
there are now “more than 85,000 apps available to the more than 50
million iPhone™ and iPod touch® customers worldwide and over 125,000
developers in Apple’s iPhone Developer Program.” That it just
craziness… 50 million iPhone and iPod Touches out there! And
apparently people are not getting bored with the App Store, actually
it is just the opposite, the downloads have increased compared to last
year.

“The rate of App Store downloads continues to accelerate with users
downloading a staggering two billion apps in just over a year,
including more than half a billion apps this quarter alone,” said
Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “The App Store has reinvented what you can do
with a mobile handheld device, and our users are clearly loving it.”

Check out the full press release below.

Press Release

CUPERTINO, California—September 28, 2009—Apple® today announced that
more than two billion apps have been downloaded from its revolutionary
App Store, the largest applications store in the world. There are now
more than 85,000 apps available to the more than 50 million iPhone™
and iPod touch® customers worldwide and over 125,000 developers in
Apple’s iPhone Developer Program.

“The rate of App Store downloads continues to accelerate with users
downloading a staggering two billion apps in just over a year,
including more than half a billion apps this quarter alone,” said
Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “The App Store has reinvented what you can do
with a mobile handheld device, and our users are clearly loving it.”

Today, iPhone and iPod touch customers in 77 countries worldwide can
choose from an incredible range of apps in 20 categories, including
games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel. With the
recently introduced iTunes® 9, it’s now easier than ever to organize
and sync your apps right in iTunes and they will automatically appear
on your iPhone or iPod touch with the same layout.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the
Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the
Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation
with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and
professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital
media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and
iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its
revolutionary iPhone.

--

Can anyone ever catch up, I don't think so!

What sound thinking developer passes up 50,000,000 devices to develop
for an iffy new iPhone killer that may stumble in the market place? He
could starve to death as opposed to hitting the jackpot.

Thanks to DRUGS there ae still lots of non sound thinking people out
there so there is hope for Palm, Google etc.

"Two Billion Downloads! - sounds like McDonalds burgers"
<vic.healey@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:052e1a33-d546-4941-8229-31cee3bd42b8@e18g2000vbe.googlegroups.com...

> Can anyone ever catch up, I don't think so!
>
> What sound thinking developer passes up 50,000,000 devices to develop
> for an iffy new iPhone killer that may stumble in the market place? He
> could starve to death as opposed to hitting the jackpot.

Or, he could own the lion's share of the smaller market- big fish/small pond
style. If you're a new iPhone developer, you have to compete for "shelf
space" with 85,000 apps. Not many new trails to blaze there, particularly
since you're not allowed to compete with "core functionality" and bring apps
that are sorely needed to the table.

Write, for example, a new media player that can play Divx files, and you
might make a handsome profit in the Palm Pre store. That same app for
iPhone will net you no more than a rejection letter from the Apple store.

> Thanks to DRUGS there ae still lots of non sound thinking people out
> there so there is hope for Palm, Google etc.

85,000 regurgitating the same APIs over and over. God forbid those apps add
any new or missing functionality. "Drugs" might explain why most of the 50
million iPhone/iPod Touch owners haven't jailbroken them yet... Once
jailbroken, they're pretty nifty devices.

In article <UZ6wm.10381$kC.4740@newsfe11.iad>,
"Todd Allcock" <elecconnec@AnoOspamL.com> wrote:

> "Two Billion Downloads! - sounds like McDonalds burgers"
> <vic.healey@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:052e1a33-d546-4941-8229-31cee3bd42b8@e18g2000vbe.googlegroups.com...
>
> > Can anyone ever catch up, I don't think so!
> >
> > What sound thinking developer passes up 50,000,000 devices to develop
> > for an iffy new iPhone killer that may stumble in the market place? He
> > could starve to death as opposed to hitting the jackpot.
>
> Or, he could own the lion's share of the smaller market- big fish/small pond
> style. If you're a new iPhone developer, you have to compete for "shelf
> space" with 85,000 apps. Not many new trails to blaze there, particularly
> since you're not allowed to compete with "core functionality" and bring apps
> that are sorely needed to the table.

What a nonsense - new functionality does not depend on the available
API's.

> > Write, for example, a new media player that can play Divx files, and you
> might make a handsome profit in the Palm Pre store. That same app for
> iPhone will net you no more than a rejection letter from the Apple store.
>
> > Thanks to DRUGS there ae still lots of non sound thinking people out
> > there so there is hope for Palm, Google etc.
>
> 85,000 regurgitating the same APIs over and over. God forbid those apps add
> any new or missing functionality. "Drugs" might explain why most of the 50
> million iPhone/iPod Touch owners haven't jailbroken them yet... Once
> jailbroken, they're pretty nifty devices.

I have an idea for an app, but no programmer yet - and I am willing to
back that up with paying a programmer to do it reasonably well.
Even though sometimes there are many apps for a task, none of them does
it well as it lacks core functionality (not to be mixed up with API's!).

HTH

Marc

--
remove bye and from mercial to get valid e-mail
<http://www.heusser.com>

On Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:16:58 +0200, Marc Heusser
<marc.heusser@byeheusser.commercialspammers.invali d> wrote in
<marc.heusser-4D315F.15162829092009@news.uzh.ch>:

>In article <UZ6wm.10381$kC.4740@newsfe11.iad>,

>> Or, he could own the lion's share of the smaller market- big fish/small pond
>> style. If you're a new iPhone developer, you have to compete for "shelf
>> space" with 85,000 apps. Not many new trails to blaze there, particularly
>> since you're not allowed to compete with "core functionality" and bring apps
>> that are sorely needed to the table.
>
>What a nonsense - new functionality does not depend on the available
>API's.

While there are undoubtedly more things that can be done with existing
APIs, there's no question that the existing APIs do limit what can be
done.

--
Best regards,
John <http:/navasgroup.com>

If the iPhone is really so impressive,
why do iFans keep making excuses for it?

In article <qt64c516s42aoqfiqsb94vc6p43k5dgvj5@4ax.com>, John Navas
<spamfilter1@navasgroup.com> wrote:

> While there are undoubtedly more things that can be done with existing
> APIs, there's no question that the existing APIs do limit what can be
> done.

true for any device and api.

On Tue, 29 Sep 2009 09:23:25 -0700, nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> wrote
in <290920090923259200%nospam@nospam.invalid>:

>In article <qt64c516s42aoqfiqsb94vc6p43k5dgvj5@4ax.com>, John Navas
><spamfilter1@navasgroup.com> wrote:
>
>> While there are undoubtedly more things that can be done with existing
>> APIs, there's no question that the existing APIs do limit what can be
>> done.
>
>true for any device and api.

The difference is in degree, not in kind.

--
Best regards,
John <http:/navasgroup.com>

If the iPhone is really so impressive,
why do iFans keep making excuses for it?

On Tue, 29 Sep 2009 09:41:30 -0700, Michelle Steiner
<michelle@michelle.org> wrote in
<michelle-BDAE1A.09413029092009@news.eternal-september.org>:

>In article <qt64c516s42aoqfiqsb94vc6p43k5dgvj5@4ax.com>,
> John Navas <spamfilter1@navasgroup.com> wrote:
>
>> While there are undoubtedly more things that can be done with existing
>> APIs, there's no question that the existing APIs do limit what can be
>> done.
>
>Considering that iPhone OS 3.0 added 1,000 APIs to what already existed,
>the limitations are not very constrained.

Non sequitor.

--
Best regards,
John <http:/navasgroup.com>

If the iPhone is really so impressive,
why do iFans keep making excuses for it?

At 29 Sep 2009 15:16:58 +0200 Marc Heusser wrote:


> > Or, he could own the lion's share of the smaller market- big fish/small
pond
> > style. If you're a new iPhone developer, you have to compete for
"shelf
> > space" with 85,000 apps. Not many new trails to blaze there,
particularly
> > since you're not allowed to compete with "core functionality" and bring
apps
> > that are sorely needed to the table.
>
> What a nonsense - new functionality does not depend on the available
> API's.


As robust as the API library is, parts of the device and its data are off
limits, like the Calendar. Have you seen any third-party sync products (e.g.
Funambol) or improved PIMs (Pocket Informant) able to us the native
Calendar data? "There's No API for That.." forcing devs to limit
functionality or kludge their way around the limitations (which many devs
have, frankly, done admirably!)


> I have an idea for an app, but no programmer yet - and I am willing to
> back that up with paying a programmer to do it reasonably well.
> Even though sometimes there are many apps for a task, none of them does
> it well as it lacks core functionality (not to be mixed up with API's!).

No argument from me. As the old saying goes, even in an overcrowded market
there's always room for one more good product. My main point was only that
in a sea of 50,000,000 iPhone OS devices and 85,000 apps, developers aren't
necessarily crazy to develop for other less popular and less crowded
platforms. Using Vic's twisted logic, no one should bother developing for,
or even buying, a Mac, since there are many times more Windows boxes in
use, and a larger number of available apps for them.