Mobile apps are ginormous! And yes, ‘ginormous’ is a word - and I have the etymology to prove it. However, if you don’t believe shady wiktionary references, just ask Apple. Apple recently reached 1 billion mobile application downloads in just 9 months, and are currently sitting pretty on over 1.5 billion to date. I don’t need to tell you, that’s a lot of downloads. Hence the word, ginormous (gigantic or enormous alone just didn’t seem to do it justice). As smartphones like the iPhone, Blackberry and Google’s Android start to dominate the market, developers are churning out apps faster than Christmas elves on Redbull. Whether it’s a popular game, Facebook mobile or Skype Lite - people are downloading… and they are forking out cash. Here are the latest stats:

From GetJar - Opera Mini Clocks More Than 25 Million Downloads  (August 2009)

• Opera Mini (the mobile internet browser) clocks more than 25 million downloads on GetJar, making it the most downloaded app ever on an app store.

From PavingWays - Application Users and Sales  (August 2009)

• Opera Mini now has more than 20 million users. Those users viewed approximately 7.6 billion pages in January 2009. Page views and data transfers increased 18% month-over-month.
• AdMob estimates that Apple is selling $200 million/month ($2.4 billion/year) in applications. The next biggest competitor is the Android app market, which is selling $5 million/month ($60 million/year).

From Thenextweb - Thanks a billion (April 2009)

This was the ad run after Apple’s App Store reached 1 billion downloads (April 23, 2009)

From TechRepublic - 70, 000 mobile applications  (August 2009)

• There are over 70,000 mobile applications available in the iTunes store.

From i4u - Tap Tap Revenge (April 2009)

• The free mobile game Tap Tap Revenge is downloaded by 1 out 3 iTunes App users.
• Apple’s itunes.com: Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D and Facebook mobile took top honuors in the paid and unpaid apps categories respectively. Koi Pond and Enigmo rounded out the top three paid apps, while Google Earth and Pandora Radio rounded out the freebies.

From Admob - July 2009 Metrics Report

• Each month, Android and iPhone users download approximately 10 new apps, while iPod touch owners download an average of 18.
• iPhone/iPod Touch owners, on average, spend $5 to buy five paid apps every month.
• Given the high number of app downloads, it’s easy to see why nearly half of Android and iPhone users are spending more than 30 minutes every day using them. Nearly a quarter of Android and iPhone users devote a full two hours a day.
• Information on the average mobile application downloads per month can also be displayed graphically: 

From Techcrunch - Motorola vs. iPhone (August 2009)

• 16% of Motorola smartphone owners said they would spend over $50 on an app. Only 1% of iPhone owners would pay that price.

From Gigaom: Paid Applications (August 2009)

Mobile apps are a goldmine. As mobile phones become more integrated in our lives, applications offer increased functionality to consumers and new innovative avenues to market products and services.  

Also check out:

• Friday Fact Box - Mobile Use
•  Friday Fact Box - The Mobile Web