As Apple's App Store turns five we look at some of the mind-boggling facts and figures it has produced.
Apple revolutionised the way we use our phones but not with the launch of the iPhone in 2007, but with the launch of the App Store a year later, on 10 July, 2008.
Five years on and the App Store has just seen its 50 billionth download, but that's just one of huge amount of facts and figures this revolutionary development has thrown up.
Here are some of the most impressive:
900,000 - The latest figure for apps in the App Store came at WWDC in June when Apple announced it had passed the 900,000 mark. At the rate developers are adding new apps, it is likely to be closing in on the million mark very soon. However more than the number of apps available, it is the fact that 93% are downloaded at least once every single month which is key for developers.
$10 billion - While BlackBerry may say that per app it is a better bet for developers, there is no questioning the fact that Apple has helped create a completely new revenue stream for software developers. So far the company has paid out over $10 billion to App Store developers - meaning of course it has earned in the region of $4.5bn for itself. Some have made millions from a single app, and with an install base of 600 million iOS devices, it's easy to see why it is the most attractive platform for developers.
50,000,000,000 - That figure is 50 billion in case you didn't realise and in May, when Brandon Ashmore from Mentor, Ohio downloaded Say the Same Thing by Space Inch, Apple passed this milestone for downloads from the App Store. As you can see from the graph below, the rate of downloads has grown hugely over the past two years as the iPhone and iPad became household names, and developers made the most of the technology available to them.
0 - This is the number of malicious apps which have been found in the App Store since it launched. While Apple's rigorous acceptance system for apps and its walled-garden approach have been criticised by some, this is a huge achievement in a world where cyber-crime is now a huge and viable threat to our everyday life. Renowned security expert Mikko Hypponen called the App Store "the biggest security innovation of the past decade."
600 million - The fact that Apple has over 900,000 apps in its App Store would of course mean nothing if people were not downloading them. Therefore it was key that Apple's hardware was also a success. The iPhone and the iPad have come to define the smartphone and tablet market, with over 600 million iOS devices (which includes some iPod touch devices) sold so far. It is the tight integration of software and hardware which has led to the success of both the App Store and the devices on which it is available.
