Hardware 2.0

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Take that Android! Apple's 100 Million Mac App Store downloads

By Adrian Kingsley-Hughes | December 12, 2011, 6:00am PST

Summary: 100 million in less than a year.

Today Apple announced that it has seen over 100 million downloads from the Mac App Store.

Apple today announced that over 100 million apps have been downloaded from the Mac App Store in less than one year. With thousands of free and paid apps, the Mac App Store brings the App Store experience to the Mac so you can find great new apps, buy them using your iTunes account, and download and install them in just one step.

One point to note here is that Apple offered the Mac OS X 10.7 ‘Lion’ upgrade exclusively via the Mac App Store initially, so I’ve no doubt that this will have helped boost the download numbers dramatically.

UPDATE - Apple has confirmed to The Loop that these download numbers do not include Lion downloads.

Apple’s not just blowing the trumpet of the Mac App Store either. Here are some headline-grabbing stats related to the iOS App Store:

More than 500,000 apps
More than 18 billion apps downloaded
More than 1 billion apps downloaded per month

These numbers put Google’s boast of 10 billion apps downloaded from the Android Market into perspective.

“In just three years the App Store changed how people get mobile apps, and now the Mac App Store is changing the traditional PC software industry,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “With more than 100 million downloads in less than a year, the Mac App Store is the largest and fastest growing PC software store in the world.”

Looks like Apple is set to shake up another industry.

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Apple Macintosh, Apple Inc., Desktops, Hardware, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

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The Fact that Apple Popularized It?

CFWhitman 14th Dec

@Tigertank
Obviously, you don't know me at all, since you seem to think that I am always critical of Apple. However, Apple may have popularized the app store for mobile devices, but they are not responsible for popularizing that concept on PCs, yet they claim that they are responsible for "changing the traditional PC software industry."

Remember that I didn't say Apple stated that they came up with the idea. They merely implied it. That's the mindset of Apple's marketing department. They imply that they came up with all these ideas (without ever actually coming out and saying it), and several years later, a lot of people seem to believe it. Of course, in practice, you can be pretty much assured that any technology that is mainstream is not original, but in at least its second or third generation.

Current Apple products don't have much appeal for me, but I don't hate Apple any more than any other large corporation, which is to say that I don't trust them at all. If Apple came out with a product that appealed to me, I would give it due consideration. Such a product, though, wouldn't fit in with their current approach. It's very much on purpose that the iPad doesn't have a slot for flash memory or USB host capabilities. As long as their products continue along those lines, I'm not interested.

However, Apple brought us Webkit, which is being used to develop a number of interesting browser projects. They also gave us the Darwin operating system, which is an interesting from a geek's perspective. Of course, they eventually killed the binary releases, but the PureDarwin project is still trying to make something of the source code.

Also, back in the day Apple's PowerPC hardware was interesting. I enjoyed using Apple IIe computers oh so long ago. I think it's fair to say that I used to like Apple better than I do now, although I was always more of a fan of Wozniak than Jobs.

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Seems a Familiar Method to Me

CFWhitman Updated - 12th Dec

As a long time user of Debian and other Linux distributions, the app store method doesn't seem terribly new to me. Having arrangements for paid for apps isn't the norm in Linux repositories, but it's not altogether new either. I recall Lindows/Linspire having a repository that included paid for apps quite some time back.

So is Apple 'shaking up the industry'? That depends on if you think taking an idea from a lower profile source and mainstreaming it is shaking up the industry. Of course that's what Apple usually does, so if you consider their previous efforts industry shake-ups, you shouldn't have any trouble fitting this into that viewpoint.

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The truly sad thing about this

toddybottom 12th Dec

@CFWhitman
Pretty soon, the Apple fanbois will look at any new app store and claim that they are copies of the Apple app store. This is ignoring the facts you laid out in addition to ignoring the app stores that were available for Windows Mobile 6 and the various highly successful app stores like Steam that have been running for years. We saw the same thing with WP7 which was not a copy of the iPhone but instead just another version in the PocketPC / Windows Mobile line.

Apple fanbois have become very good at ignoring all history outside of the Apple RDF.

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RE: Take that Android! Apple's 100 Million Mac App Store downloads

kenosha77a 12th Dec

@toddybottom

You comment about WP7 phones not being copies of the iPhones is absolutely correct. If they were copies, like some Android phones are, than the WP7 sales would be ten times what they are now. Grin

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RE: Take that Android! Apple's 100 Million Mac App Store downloads

dave95. Updated - 12th Dec

@toddybottom

We saw the same thing with WP7 which was not a copy of the iPhone but instead just another version in the PocketPC / Windows Mobile line.

Then why didn't Microsoft continue with that PocketPC / Windows Mobile model, fully? Why adopt Apple's 30/70 spit model? Why is Microsoft vetting every app when they did not do so with WinMo? Why is Microsoft not allowing side-loading of apps like they did with WinMo? Microsoft's official Windows Store will be the exclusive distribution outlet for new "Metro" styled apps, similar to Apple's iOS and Mac App Store. Would there even be a metro-style app store for Windows if Apple were not successful with their app store for iOS and Macs?

I will never claim Apple were the first with the app store concept, what they did however was take the general idea and make it better for both the users and developers (same with Macs, iPods, iPhones). Their success set the stage for the app store concept's adoption by every major platform vendor. This usually gets the anti Apple folks riled-up yelling how Apple were NOT first (waaa!!), ignoring the major innovations/improvements Apple is bringing to the market as a whole.

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They copied Handango, not Apple

toddybottom 12th Dec

Apple changed nothing from what Handango offered years earlier. I never claimed that MS didn't copy anyone. Note that my statement was:
"the app stores that were available for Windows Mobile 6"

Note they were available FOR WM6, I never claimed they were run by MS.

Apple's App Store has been successful for the same reason that all of you Apple fanbois claim that Windows is successful: there is no other (easy) choice. Want to get a PC? You are "forced" to buy a Windows PC (if we believe your shrieking). Want to get an App for the iPhone? You are forced (with no quotation marks) to get it from Apple's App Store. People don't choose to use the App Store, they are forced to. And that's fine. Obviously Apple created a great business model by slavishly copying the app stores that existed first. MS is also copying but they aren't copying Apple. This usually gets the anti MS folks riled-up yelling how MS IS copying Apple (waaa!!).

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RE: Take that Android! Apple's 100 Million Mac App Store downloads

CowLauncher 12th Dec

@toddybottom I hear what you are saying...who cares?

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Android has over 620000 Apps

Uralbas Updated - 12th Dec

Please reference Androlib and 148Apps.biz.

The facts are:

Total Active Apps: ____Android-362,709___IOS-470,220_(note 1)
Total Inactive Apps:___Android-274,291___IOS-148,500_(note 2)
Total Apps:__________Android-620,000___IOS-678,050_(note 3)
Total App Downloads: _Android-10 billion__IOS-18 billion_(note 4)

Android has 68.9% free apps -- 249,914 free apps
IOS has 43.0% free apps ------ 194,454 free apps (note 3).

Android has more free apps than IOS!

The catch here is that free apps are based out of advertisement that produce a lot of revenue over time on good apps, versus a one time fee with paid apps. Those who go the Google route earn more money over the long run. Unless paid apps have to be paid over and over again, which currently doesn't happen though it will.

Note 1: 59330 book apps were subtracted to compare apples to apples. Android has over 15 million titles (Wikipedia Google Books - 2010), and if these are included, they would dwarf Apples 59K books. Two million of these books are free!

Note 2: Inactive Apps on IOS are apps that have been pulled from the market. On Android they are apps pending for approval as well as apps that have been pulled out. Music apps could not be differentiated.

Note 3: Music apps could not be differentiated.

Note 4: Google stated 10billion downloads Androlib estimates 7 billion.

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Uh Oh! a positive Apple story...

Tigertank 13th Dec

Pretty soon the usual haters will come out and claim that Apple fanboys are about to claim that Apple invented the concept of the App store.

Like clockwork...

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Oh, Apple Would Never Imply Such a Thing

CFWhitman 13th Dec

@Tigertank
"Pretty soon the usual haters will come out and claim that Apple fanboys are about to claim that Apple invented the concept of the App store.

"Like clockwork..."

Of course Apple themselves would never imply such a thing.

"'In just three years the App Store changed how people get mobile apps, and now the Mac App Store is changing the traditional PC software industry,' said Philip Schiller."

Like clockwork...

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RE: Take that Android! Apple's 100 Million Mac App Store downloads

Tigertank 13th Dec

@CFWhitman
"'In just three years the App Store changed how people get mobile apps, and now the Mac App Store is changing the traditional PC software industry,' said Philip Schiller."

So, do you have a link to where Apple claimed they invented the concept of the App Store or not? This quote refers to to the fact that Apple popularized it. That is what they are known for, yet haters like yourself don't know the difference and bluster in with false accusations.

like clockwork....

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The Fact that Apple Popularized It?

CFWhitman 14th Dec

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RE: Take that Android! Apple's 100 Million Mac App Store downloads

ConstableOdo 12th Dec

...but, Android is winning.

Wait until you see the claims Microsoft is going to have in the number of apps and downloads when they introduce the Windows 8 Windows App Store. They're going to be claiming that they've surpassed Apple's numbers within a short span of a few months because Windows is the most prolific OS on the planet and Microsoft is a far more powerful company than Apple can ever be. I'm sure that Microsoft's Windows App Store will have about a million free apps to start the ball rolling.

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RE: Take that Android! Apple's 100 Million Mac App Store downloads

kenosha77a Updated - 12th Dec

@CFWhitman

Nice backhanded Apple compliments. But I would answer "yes" to your question, "is Apple shaking up the industry?" (But first one must define which industry is being disrupted.)

Therefore, my reason for my conjecture is this. Before the online app store model for paid, commercial apps existed, the normal business model for distributing software was thru "brick and motor" retail outlets. With the advent of Apple's successful app stores, the traditional "brick and motor" software outlet business model might be phrased out in time.

Previous Linux distros of this app store concept would never force the closure of mainstream "brick and motor" retail software outlets.

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Please retract your statement

toddybottom 12th Dec

"With the advent of Apple's successful app stores, the traditional "brick and motor" software outlet business model might be phrased out in time."

http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/11/11/retailers-say-steam-is-killing-the-pc-market-threaten-steam-ban/

"encourages gamers to buy through Valve instead of returning to stores"

Brick and mortar software retail outlets are far more worried about Valve than they are about Apple. Valve shook up this industry. Apple is slavishly copying Valve.

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RE: Take that Android! Apple's 100 Million Mac App Store downloads

kenosha77a 12th Dec

@toddybottom

I won't retract my opinion, my Canadian friend. (Noticed I used the word "might" in the statement that you quoted.)

BTW, why did you choose to change your online name to "toddybottom"? I looked up the word "toddy" and discovered that it might refer to "long immersion, room temperature brewing devices that create a coffee syrup which can be later diluted with boiling water." A toddy was also described as a "unique brewing system, not for everyone's tastes."

Well, your comments certainly are "not for everyone's tastes" but I have come to appreciate them. They provide a balance for my comments and keep me honest in my opinions. Thanks and Merry Christmas.

BTW, another reason that I can't retract my statement is that we have already discussed Valve in relationship to the iTunes Business model. Those were classic on line discussions which I remember with a certain amount of nostalgia. This current thread is simply a subset of that original discussion.

Oh .. more importantly .. regarding the link you supplied. Wouldn't the link's PCGamer opinions refer to "brick and motor stores" that specialize in video game software, for example Game Stop, rather than stores in general that sell PC software? (For example, Best Buy, Walmart, Stapels, Office Max and so on.)

I can envision general purpose stores "cutting back" on boxed PC software and, perhaps in five years or so, eliminate the physical stocking of such software. That doesn't mean that they would cease selling PC software. But they might only sell PC software as a digital download from their online Web sites.

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Where are you getting this stuff from?

toddybottom 12th Dec

I'm from the US and my name is Todd Bottom but my friends call me Toddy. I haven't changed my name to anything. It has always been Todd. So I don't know what you are talking about.

Brick and mortar stores are selling fewer and fewer boxed software titles because most software is sold online now. Xbox and PlayStation are moving away from boxed software and doing it online now. The move to make the primary distribution of software an online distribution has been going on for years, long before Apple ever got an inkling to slavishly copy those who have gone before. Boxed software sections have been getting smaller and smaller for years at Best Buy, Walmart, Staples, etc.

Open your eyes. The world is quite nice outside of Apple's RDF.

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RE: Take that Android! Apple's 100 Million Mac App Store downloads

kenosha77a 12th Dec

@toddybottom

Sorry, Toddy. My mistake. But Merry Christmas, non-the-less.

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RE: Take that Android! Apple's 100 Million Mac App Store downloads

x7Samurai 12th Dec

It is true that Apple did not invented the online distribution, however, they supply the market with good quality products and did a great marketing job. That brought Apple's online distribution it to the level that it is right now and that's the difference.

As an average consumer (with no high tech knowledge), I am willing to purchase via ITunes/Apps because of Apple's overall product quality. Unfortunately, I can't say that when it comes to Android and Windows OS's.

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RE: Take that Android! Apple's 100 Million Mac App Store downloads

MicroNix 12th Dec

Take that Android? Take what? Take that, as in a new app store for millions of already existing desktops and laptops is doing well whereas Android's market grew up its hardware market share from the start? How is that any comparison? I can hardly wait to see what the next genius comparison is going to be...

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A single Windows real application: CCleaner 750+ million downloads

WinTard 12th Dec

In a few years of existence. From one SINGLE windows app.

ccleaner.com
CCleaner is the number-one tool for cleaning your Windows PC. Keep your privacy safe online, and make your computer faster and more secure. Over 750 million downloads!

Take that to counteract your Kool-Aid.

~~~~~~~~~~
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