App Store Surpasses 2 Billion Downloads, Games Largest Category

Apple's App Store surpassed the 2 billion download mark, the company announced Monday, as the total number of available apps exceeded the 85,000 mark. The App Store reached that milestone just over a year after its launch. Apple CEO Steve Jobs said that the download figure includes "half a billion apps this quarter alone," indicating continuing acceleration of App Store adoption. The App Store is a digital download service provided by Apple, usable with the iPhone and iPod Touch platforms. Apple's handheld devices have become a hotbed for game developers both large and small – out of the 85,000 available apps, about 16,000 are games, according to a report by mobile tracking firm Mobclix (spotted by VentureBeat). That makes games the largest category on the App Store. The category with the second-highest number of apps is Entertainment with around 13,000 items. Other categories, from large to small, include books, utilities, travel, education, lifestyle, and reference. Apple also said there are over 50 million iPod Touch and iPhone customers worldwide, and over 125,000 developers in the company's iPhone Developer Program. "The App Store has reinvented what you can do with a mobile handheld device, and our users are clearly loving it," Jobs added.