Apple's App Store crosses the 1.5 billion download mark

Yes, it seems like only yesterday (or about 3 months ago) that Apple crossed a landmark -- 1 billion apps downloaded from its App Store -- and here we are again. Apple's just issued a press release stating that it's now seen another half a billion apps downloaded in about three months -- putting them over the 1.5 billion mark. Apple doesn't get all the kudos to themselves, though: after all, someone's been downloading The Moron Test. A lot.

[Kerr @ Jul 14th 2009 10:01AM]

Turns out that moron app thinks I am a moron...go figure.

[Brandon L @ Jul 14th 2009 11:53AM]

The irony is that the moron app costs 99 cents, so you paid to get told that you are a moron, moron.

The app creator must be laughing his way to the bank right about now.

[Mikey @ Jul 14th 2009 12:35PM]

"The irony is that the moron app costs 99 cents, so you paid to get told that you are a moron, moron."

I think that's why it told him he was a moron. The extent of the code for the moron app is probably something like this (if I can remember my old BASIC coding from when I was 8)

START
PRINT "You are a moron"
END

[dsteve303 @ Jul 14th 2009 10:01AM]

God. At least wait till the 2 billion mark.

[Manny @ Jul 14th 2009 10:54AM]

At least? you have really high standards if 2B is "at least" in your dictionary.

[Ryujin @ Jul 14th 2009 11:13AM]

My question in all of this is how many of those apps are re-downloads bc of the 3GS upgrades people made.

[Cheddar @ Jul 14th 2009 11:55AM]

@Ryujin...numbers are unique downloads...when I (and others) upgraded to the 3GS I didn't have to re-download any apps since they are all on my computer I sync with...


1.5 BILLION apps downloaded in 1 year (reason for announcement) is an AMAZING accomplishment for any company. Seriously, Apps have theoretically been around for years on the nokia, blackberry, etc. but I would be willing to bet ALL the other phone app downloads in history from every company except Apple still don't come close to 1.5 billion...probably not even a half billion...that is why this is impressive.

[Mikey @ Jul 14th 2009 12:40PM]

Cheddar, I gotta call bullshit on you. First, you have no way of knowing how many downloads there have been for phone Apps in all of history for companies besides Apple (which is why you just "bet" it was less than 1/2 billion combined). Second, I highly doubt your estimation is accurate at all. I find it hard to believe that Nokia and WinMo phones, with an install base that dwarfs Apple's as well as a much higher number of total apps, could possibly have fewer app downloads than Apple's... let alone less than 1/3 fewer.

[Cheddar @ Jul 14th 2009 4:04PM]

@mikey...are you SERIOUS?? "Nokia and WinMo phones... (have) a much higher number of total apps" Honestly, are you SERIOUS??? There is NFW these guys have more apps than Apple...NONE! Did you ever hear the hype/buzz around apps until Apple launched the App store?? Every carrier now advertises how "app friendly" their phones are in an attempt to compete at all with the iPhone.

Sure Nokia has a big user base, too bad they aren't all smartphones. And WinMo may eek out an edge on install base but Apple is catching up fast if not already superseded them. Either way, pre Apple's App store I would be willing to wager the average person had less than 2 externally downloaded (i.e., not packaged w/phone) apps on their phones and that is being generous. The process was not convenient or easy compared to what Apple has set up....ahem as evidenced by the fact EVERYONE is copying them!

Seriously man, you cannot be SERIOUS?

[phenoum @ Jul 14th 2009 5:19PM]

cheddar you're a noob - Palm OS had something like 50,000 apps available - on many different phones.

Stop sucking apple's twig

[Mikey @ Jul 14th 2009 5:26PM]

It's well established that WinMo has hundreds of thousands of apps, which blows the iPhone's sixty-some thousand out of the water. (WinMos just aren't in one tidy little place like the App Store because, you know, WinMo is an open platform)

Plus, you are still forgetting that there are orders of magnitude more Nokia and WinMo phones in use than iPhones... so even if the average number of apps downloaded per Nokia/WinMo phone is a fraction of those of the average iPhone, basic math tells us that there are still way more downloads of Nokia and WinMo apps. Unless you have actual, concrete evidence to the contrary (which you can't possibly have, since there isn't data out there on this), the logical, reasonable assumption is that WinMo and Nokia have more app downloads than iPhones. This isn't to say its better or worse, just more.

I'm sorry that logic escapes you, but (to borrow and old chestnut from Zak or Paul a. Chapel) if you want to prove me wrong go ahead... or offer a rational argument that is little more than saying "SERIOUS" over and over. The one argument you had that even approached trying to refute me is that not all Nokia phones are smart phones. But, a phone doesn't have to be a smart phone to run an App. I had an old Moto flip phone that you could download and play games on about 4 years before the iPhone came out... and it certainly wasn't a smart phone. So, even if most of Nokia's phones aren't smart phones, many if not most of them could still download apps.

Apple did not invent the cell phone App, nor was it the first to allow for app downloads. Perhaps if you had said "Apple has more app store downloads," then of course you are correct, but then you aren't making a fair comparison.

So, my reply to you is "Yes, seriously... Seriously... SERIOUSLY... there is very little chance that the iPhone has had more app downloads than Nokia and WinMo COMBINED."

[Tinu @ Jul 14th 2009 10:01AM]

Today I had for the second time during the day.

[Tinu @ Jul 14th 2009 10:02AM]

Today I had *cake* for the second time during the day.

(darn typo)

[Shiz @ Jul 14th 2009 10:13AM]

Sure you did......

[ilovethewaggle @ Jul 14th 2009 10:28AM]

If someone came up to me and said "Cake or Death?", I'm sure I'd say cake too...multiple times.

[10minutehobo @ Jul 14th 2009 10:58AM]

Today I to you comment.
Not accidentally, no.

[Alex @ Jul 14th 2009 10:04AM]

Wow, who knew there were so many mindless idiots in the world?

[ProfessorDex @ Jul 14th 2009 10:41AM]

Microsoft does. They keep a running total of how many WinMo phones they sell.

[qwack @ Jul 14th 2009 10:44AM]

@Dex wow must be a hard job, they are still in single digits.

[ProfessorDex @ Jul 14th 2009 10:47AM]

Single digits with a "Million" tacked on to the end.

[qwack @ Jul 14th 2009 10:49AM]

Do decimals count?

Maybe 0.0001.

[Manny @ Jul 14th 2009 11:01AM]

"mindless idiots"....All idiots are mindless by definition

It's like saying "very pregnant." A woman is either pregnant or she is not. She can't be "very pregnant." She can certainly be very far along in her pregnancy, but not "very pregnant."

[Alex @ Jul 14th 2009 11:18AM]

Manny - what about ultra-liberal college professors? Idiots, yes. Mindless, probably not.

[Look_Around_You @ Jul 14th 2009 11:40AM]

Their phones.

Why on Earth are you referring to any person using a phone different from yours as idiots?

[Alex @ Jul 14th 2009 11:46AM]

Because every iPhone user I've met cluelessly buys into the Apple marketing machine.

Plus, you said "their phones". Whose phones? I think you meant, "they're".

[MrNuclear @ Jul 14th 2009 8:07PM]

Oh Alex, you're so very, very wrong. Or did I mean 'your'...?

[wibblewobble @ Jul 14th 2009 10:14AM]

and?

[TechNewb @ Jul 14th 2009 10:07AM]

I love 'em apps at the app store. :)

[Jake @ Jul 14th 2009 10:08AM]

Someone actually asked me the other day, "Have you downloaded the Moron Test App yet?" Yet. As if it's a foregone conclusion that when you own an iPhone or iPod touch, thou shall buy the moron test. I've avoided that little gem thus far. ;D

[gib @ Jul 14th 2009 10:32AM]

Yea, I don't understand how some of these apps become popular. With 60,000+ apps available, *this* is the number one in the App Store.

Maybe that crazy SOB Glen Beck was right to fear for America.

[Quix @ Jul 14th 2009 10:10AM]

I see 1.5 billion reasons for Microsoft's "groundbreaking" new Windows Marketplace (aka Windows MeToo).

[Look_Around_You @ Jul 14th 2009 10:35AM]

So let me see if I can get this straight.

Here you have Quix basically trying to start a flame war by taking swipes at MS:

"new Windows Marketplace (aka Windows MeToo)."

Added onto both him and Paul on a non Apple story about the MS marketplace, basically trolling there.

And you still keep running this line about Apple "haters" as if you clowns are victims of horrible people that just want to destroy your precious Apple?

WHEN YOU ARE THE ONES THAT ARE ACTUALLY DOING IT YOURSELF!

So I will pose the same question I keep asking you, and you never answer:

If you dont want people to do that type of stuff in Apple stories, why do you keep doing it yourself?

[ProfessorDex @ Jul 14th 2009 10:43AM]

*covers up Paul*

[Look_Around_You @ Jul 14th 2009 10:50AM]

@paul

And yet again you cant answer the question.

Explains everything.

[Quix @ Jul 14th 2009 10:52AM]

@ Look_Around_You: I just enjoy watching you tools in your Steve Ballmer Underoos work yourselves into a lather every time Apple is mentioned or Microsoft is criticized (and Engadget is infested with your type). Cheap entertainment!

This place was long ago overrun by Apple-hating trolls (like you) who vote down anything positive about Apple or negative about Microsoft. And Engadget appears content to have its comment system a wreck.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em says me.

*pops some popcorn*

[Look_Around_You @ Jul 14th 2009 11:08AM]

And again neither of these tools can answer a simple question.

Just attack and run.

So I will try again, and see if your brains can lock onto the question.

"If you dont want people to do that type of stuff in Apple stories, why do you keep doing it yourself?"

[Quix @ Jul 14th 2009 11:16AM]

@ Look_Around_You:

Let me try to put this into plain English so you understand. People like you have been crapping all over Apple-related stories on this blog forever - but the past year or so it's become out of control. Anything positive-Apple gets low ranked. Anything negative-Microsoft gets low ranked. Anything bashing Apple gets high ranked. This place has become WinSuperSite from the commenters' perspective, and it's really annoying. Engadget appears unwilling to do anything about it. Thus, fighting fire with fire seems a viable alternative. The old "taste of your own medicine" approach I suppose (minus the low ranks of course - there's no outvoting the Redmond Horde).

You should understand this well, as you are one of the consistent agitators. Your anti-Apple rage would be amusing if it weren't clogging my Inter-tubes.

"Smug pricks" indeed. Take a look in the mirror sometime.

Troll Different.

[Mikey @ Jul 14th 2009 12:04PM]

Quix "I just enjoy watching you tools in your Steve Ballmer Underoos work yourselves into a lather every time Apple is mentioned or Microsoft is criticized (and Engadget is infested with your type). Cheap entertainment!

This place was long ago overrun by Apple-hating trolls (like you) who vote down anything positive about Apple or negative about Microsoft. And Engadget appears content to have its comment system a wreck.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em says me."

So you admit you are intentionally trolling. Thank you *reports*

Also, +1000 for ProfessorDex "*covers up paul*" Brilliant.

[Look_Around_You @ Jul 14th 2009 12:29PM]

@Quix


Riiiiiight. If you say so.

It really everyone else just picking on the poor little Apple users. And it just happened out of the blue too.

Every kook has a reason for their mania. Apple fanatics are no different I suppose, even if they have to make it up.

[Quix @ Jul 14th 2009 12:37PM]

"Every kook has a reason for their mania." - Looks_Around_You

The same can be said for the epic amount of anti-Apple ranting and raving around here. (At least I have a legitimate reason for hating Microsoft - I've to use their crap 40+ hours a week for the past 15 years...)

Let's see if you can resist taking a dump on the next Apple-related post and go from there, hmm?

[Melissa Olund @ Jul 14th 2009 10:12AM]

Wow.

[rankinaaron @ Jul 14th 2009 10:13AM]

How appropriate to place this story right after the Windows Mobile Marketplace story.

"Microsoft now releasing Windows Mobile Marketplace with as many as 600 apps at launch this fall! ....

... in other news, The app store has just crossed the 1.5 billionth download mark."

Well done Engadget.

[joblue @ Jul 14th 2009 10:16AM]

At least they'll be 600 useful apps, unlike "the moron test" and "sally's spa".

[Jeff @ Jul 14th 2009 10:36AM]

@ joblue:

There are plenty of useful apps on the App Store. Sure, there are also useless ones, but I think it's safe to say there are more than 600 useful apps.

[Kelmon @ Jul 14th 2009 10:44AM]

@joblue

And you know this, how? Besides, while I quite accept that the App Store has completely useless applications, you also have to consider that what is "useful" to you may well be "useless" to someone else and vice verse.

[Manny @ Jul 14th 2009 11:03AM]

will these app work across all windows mobile devices?

[Manny @ Jul 14th 2009 11:06AM]

Actually "sally's spa" is a fun strategy game. it's a good application to teach you about operational optimization, bottlenecks, supply chain, etc. Ever read a book called "Goal"? It's required in a top MBA programs like Harvard, Wharton, etc.

[rankinaaron @ Jul 14th 2009 11:08AM]

The Microsoft apps will only be compatible with Windows Mobile 6.1, 6.5, and 7.

[qwack @ Jul 14th 2009 10:14AM]

What an achievement, such a high amount of downloads for only a year.

[Hackettman @ Jul 14th 2009 10:16AM]

Maybe theres something to this whole iphone thing........