Apple Talks App Store: 40 Billion Downloads, 500 Million Active Accounts, 775,000 Apps

Apple today revealed a wealth of statistics surrounding its App Store, some of which are profoundly mind-boggling in any context.

The world’s largest technology company says its app store has more than 500 million active accounts. In total, over 40 billion apps have been downloaded. In 2012 alone, 20 billion were downloaded. And in December alone, two billion were downloaded—a new record.

There are now 775,000 apps on the App Store, according to Apple. These apps have generated $7 billion for developers over the past five years, the company says.

“It has been an incredible year for the iOS developer community,” explained Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “Developers have made over seven billion dollars on the App Store, and we continue to invest in providing them with the best ecosystem so they can create the most innovative apps in the world.”

Temple Run was downloaded more than 75 million times last year. And it was created by just two people. This demonstrates the insane potential of apps—including ones built by just two people, such as Temple Run was—in today’s mobile-centric world.

“The success of our game Temple Run in 2012 was nothing short of astonishing,” said Keith Shepherd, cofounder of Imangi Studios. “We were simply looking to create a game that was fun and easy to play, but once it hit the App Store, the game took off.”