The App Store Hits 500 Million Downloads and 15,000 Apps!

On Friday Apple announced that over 15,000 applications are available on the App Store and over 500 million apps were downloaded since its launch on July 11 2008!

This news was conveyed to everyone on their website homepage.

The last disclosure regarding the App Store’s statistics was made back on December 5th through print ads in a number of prominent publications. At that time there were over 10,000 applications available and over 300 million downloads.

What is notable about these figures is that the number of applications and downloads have dramatically increased in the intervening six weeks. 5,000 new applications were added and an additional 200 million were downloaded since early December in comparison to the 10,000 apps and 300 million downloads that were reported within the first five months of operation.

One could postulate that an increasing number of iPhones and iPod Touches have contributed to the increase of downloads and should contribute nicely to Apple’s financial results slated to be announced at next weeks quarterly financial call.

Because of the sheer momentum and mindshare that Apple has garnered via the iPod and iPhone, its main competitors such as Palm, Google and Microsoft will all have a very tough uphill battle to draw developers and consumers to their products and “App Store” equivalents.

It appears that the App Store is an explosive phenomenon that I believe will help fuel further iPod Touch and iPhone 3G sales that will in turn boost even more App Store downloads and prompt further development of even more exciting and useful applications that will find their way onto the App Store. An “impressive” cycle if I ever saw one!

What cool apps do you find invaluable? Which would you recommend?