The App Store, not even two years old, has crossed the 100,000 mark for apps available to iPhone and iPod touch owners, Apple announced Wednesday. The milestone comes less than two months after the Cupertino, Calif. company said users downloaded more than 2 billion apps.
In September, the App Store reached 85,000 available applications.
The App Store “is clearly a major differentiator for millions of iPhone and iPod touch customers around the world,” said Philip Schiller, Apple senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. The App Store is available in 77 countries with apps covering 20 categories from games, business and news to sports, health and travel.
Apple also introduced a number of new features, such as App Store Essentials, sub categories and expanded customer reviews. In September, the company also unveiled its Genius recommendation ability, providing customers with an easier way to navigate the App Store’s many options. iTunes 9 was also improved, providing a better way to manage your application library. New keywords were added to permit better searches of the ever-expanding list of available apps.
Recently, Apple enhanced its App Purchase feature, allowing developers to offer in-app upgrades within free apps.
By comparison to the App Store’s 100,000 available applications, other companies offer distant competition. RIM’s BlackBerry App World holds 3,040 apps, while Nokia’s Ovi Store contains 660 apps, according to Yappler. Although the Windows platform has been around for years, the software giant’s Windows Mobile Marketplace has just 246 applications available. Palm has just 100 applications.
Apple’s reign may be nearing an end, however. Gartner announced Tuesday it expects by 2012 Google’s Android platform to wrest from Apple the No. 2 smartphone maker position behind Nokia’s Symbian. Apple and RIM will compete for third place, the research firm expects.
[Via AppleInsider, Computerworld, App Shopper and Yappler]
