Apple has revealed that so far more than 40bn apps have been downloaded from the App Store – with some 20bn apps downloaded from the Apple App Store in 2012 alone.
The tech giant, in a statement that affirms it as one of the world’s largest repositories of credit card numbers, said there are more than 500m active accounts on the App Store.
In December alone, some 2bn apps were downloaded.
The Apple developer community has so far developed more than 775,000 apps for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices.
“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 $7bn 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.”
The company revealed that some of its top-grossing apps have made millionaires out of their creators.
Temple Run achieves 75m+ downloads
For example, husband and wife team Natalia Luckyanova and Keith Shepherd saw Temple Run downloaded 75m times.
In addition, two emerging game studios, Supercell and Backflip Studios, have brought in US$100m for their freemium games Clash of Clans and DragonVale.
“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 75m downloads of Temple Run on iOS,” Shepherd said.
Apps cloud image via Shutterstock
