Apple App Store breaks 15 billion downloads barrier

As iPad apps hit six figures...

Apple has racked up more than 15 billion mobile app downloads from its App StorePhoto: Cristiano Betta

Total downloads from Apple's App Store have cruised past the 15 billion mark, the company has announced, fuelled by more than 200 million iOS device users in 90 countries.

The iPad and iPhone maker said there are now more than 425,000 apps on its iOS store, including more than 100,000 native iPad apps.

The number of iPad apps has increased from the 90,000 apps 'optimised' for tablets, cited by Apple CEO Steve Jobs at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference last month.

iOS developers have been paid more than $2.5bn to date, according to Apple.

Earlier this year, analyst house Gartner predicted total mobile app store downloads would reach 17.7 billion in 2011, up from 8.2 billion downloads in 2010.