Apple's 10 billionth app: By the numbers

With shareholders and fans still absorbing big news — first, superstar CEO Steve Jobs' medical leave and, then, reports of a "phenomenal" fourth quarter — Apple made yet another disclosure, announcing on Saturday that the number of iPhone and iPad apps that have been downloaded since the 2008 launch of its App Store had reached a major milestone. "With more than 10 billion apps downloaded in just two and a half years — a staggering 7 billion apps in the last year alone — the App Store has surpassed our wildest dreams," said Apple marketing SVP Phil Schiller, in a statement. Here's a brief guide, by the numbers:

31

Months it took for the App Store to reach the 10 billion download mark

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Nearly 10

Years it took the iTunes Music Store to reach 10 billion downloads

3

Number of games that rank, as of Saturday, among the top five free apps: Bubble Ball, Paper Glider, and Angry Birds (free version). The other two apps that fill out the top five are Google Places and iFace Fat, a novelty app that can make someone's face appear portly in a photo.

$.99

Cost of each of the top five paid apps, all of which are games: Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, Cut the Rope, Burn the Rope, and Angry Birds Seasons

$10,000

Value of the iTunes gift card Gail Davis of Great Britain won by downloading the 10 billionth app (Paper Glider)

160 million

Number of iPhone and iPad customers

62.5

Number of apps each has downloaded, on average

206

Apps per second that have been downloaded, on average, since the App Store opened on July 10, 2008 — the equivalent of 18 million apps per day

350,000

Apps now available

14.45

Percentage of those apps that are games

16.64

Percentage that are books or book-related

130,000

Apps available in the Android Market

4,000

Apps available in the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace, which was launched last fall. That's a "respectable start," but Microsoft obviously "still [has] a long way to go," says Suzanne Choney at MSNBC.

500

Apps with which Apple's store launched in July 2008

Sources: MSNBC, San Francisco Chronicle, CNET, 148Apps.biz