When the App Store was unveiled to the world in July 2008, it only took 2 1/2 years for the App Store to reach 10 Billion downloads and with a current pace of 1 Billion per month less than 11 months later, it’s ready to reach yet another significant milestone – 25 Billion. And once again to commemorate this incredible feat, Apple has launched the “Countdown to 25 Billion Apps” a world-wide promotion in which one lucky person will be eligible to receive an iTunes Gift Card valued at US$10,000 if they are the one to download the 25 billionth app.
No Download Necessary
There are a couple of ways to become eligible; you can either download an App in which you will automatically become eligible, but you don’t necessarily need to physically download anything. You can fill out an entry form, or even enter by phone.
According to Apple, for purposes of the promotion, the downloading of the 25 billionth app is considered to be either the downloading of the 25 billionth app from the App Store or the receipt of the non-purchase entry after the download of the 24,999,999,999th app, whichever comes first. Only entries submitted in this time period will be accepted.
There are a maximum of 25 entries per person, per iTunes account or email address (per day). Check out the Official Rules for full details.
App Store Numbers
The App Store is quite the phenomenon. There are currently over 550,000 apps in the store, 170,000 native to the iPad and according to Apple, developers have taken in over $4 billion in payments thus far.
Launching iTunes, and heading to the promotion, you can see the Top 25 most downloaded apps (free & paid) for both iPhone & iPad. Of course each store will be localized.
Top Paid iPhone App: Angry Birds
Top Free iPhone App: Facebook
Top Paid iPad App: Pages
Top Free iPad App: WeatherEye HD
Interestingly enough, Angry Birds placed 2nd in both iPad categories, free & paid, and 9th in the iPhone (free) category.
Canadian Apps
There were a small number of Canadian apps that made the grade, mostly in the free category: Yellow Pages (20th, iPhone) and Global TV (7th), CTV (12th) & TSN (16th) – all in the iPad category.
There was one game, Where’s Waldo – The Fantastic Journey ($1.99) from Montreal based Ludia that made the honour roll. It placed 17th in the iPhone category.
Watch the live countdown on the 25-Billion App Countdown promotions page. The contest ends when that milestone has been reached, so happy downloading!
(Snapshot of download counter was taken at 2:43PM ET Sat Feb 18th)
Greg Gazin is the Real Canadian Gadget Guy.
Follow me on Twitter @gadgetgreg.