App Store hits 25 billion downloads, Apple touts job creation in the U.S.

Jos

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More than 25 billion apps have been downloaded from Apple's app store since its launch four years ago. The company announced the milestone on it website saying the downloads came from more than 315 million iPhones, iPads and iPod touches. Chunli Fu of Qingdao, China downloaded "Where's My Water? Free" as the record-setter 25 billionth app, winning a $10,000 iTunes gift card.

“We’d like to thank our customers and developers for helping us achieve this historic milestone of 25 billion apps downloaded,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “When we launched the App Store less than four years ago, we never imagined that mobile apps would become the phenomenon they have, or that developers would create such an incredible selection of apps for iOS users.”

The store currently offers more than 550,000 iOS apps in 123 countries around the world. Nearly half of all active apps are available for free, according to unofficial estimates from 148Apps, followed by $0.99 and $1.99 apps which account for roughly 26% and 11% of the catalog, respectively. Gaming is by far the most popular category, but books, entertainment, education, and lifestyle apps take a good chunk of the pie as well.

app store apple ios iphone ipad ipod economy

Apple says its App Store has paid out more than four billion dollars to developers. In a study commissioned by Apple released last week, the company touted that 210,000 U.S. jobs have been created in the "App Economy" since the introduction of the iPhone in 2007. That's on top of some additional 304,000 jobs it is allegedly directly or indirectly responsible for creating in the United States, including 47,000 jobs at Apple and 257,000 jobs at other companies that provide development, manufacturing, components supply, and other services.

The accuracy of Apple's claims have been questioned, but one thing most economists can agree on is that the company has had a big economic impact in the U.S. that goes beyond the people it directly employs.

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I hate being cynical, but I am willing to bet that 80% of the "app Economy" 210,000 U.S. jobs are actually in other countries and not in U.S. As for the other 257,000 additional jobs for development, manufacturing and such, that figure is probably 95% outside of U.S.
 
Companies just cannot leave well enough alone. Apple can't just enjoy the huge profits it makes using Chinese labor, but no, they have to be *******s and try to seem like this is a good thing for the average American...
 
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