Apple Hits One Billion App Store Downloads

Apple has announced reaching its latest landmark – the billionth app has been downloaded via the iTunes Store. As the milestone has been reached, the Billion App Countdown Promotion has also ended. Apple is now preparing to announce who has won a  $10,000 iTunes Gift Card, an iPod touch, a Time Capsule, and a MacBook Pro.

Apple stopped the 1-Billion-app countdown yesterday, proving analysts knew their math. At the time the Billion App timer was showing roughly 945 million downloaded apps, analysts were suggesting the milestone was to be reached on April 23. It was. Of course, with an average of 5.1 million apps downloaded each day, even a first grader could have figured that one out.

The Billion App Countdown Promotion is also now over. The contest ended after the download of the billionth app, having been open only to entrants 13 years of age or older (at the time of entry). Apple also said contestants had to be legal residents of the United States or the District of Columbia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada (excluding the Province of Quebec), Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, or the United Kingdom, if available.

“Applications designed for iPhone are nothing short of amazing,” Apple states on its website. “That’s because they leverage the groundbreaking technology in iPhone — like the Multi-Touch interface, the accelerometer, GPS, real-time 3D graphics, and 3D positional audio.” Apple encourages iPhone and iPod touch owners to “just tap into the App Store and choose from thousands of applications ready to download now.”

Along with the announcement, Apple has posted the “All-Time Top Apps,” with Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D topping the list, followed by apps like Enigmo and Bejeweled 2. While the App Store mostly holds paid applications, analysts believe that 75 percent of those accounting for the 1 Billion downloads are free.