Apple v Android: Apple hits 50 billion but Google is closing in!

It’s taken five years, but Apple’s App Store has hit the 50 billion downloads – a figure which equates to around seven apps for every person on the planet.

The release of Apple’s iPhone bought about the concept of mobile apps to the world, with apps for almost anything.

It took nearly 4 years for Apple to reach the 25 billion mark in March 2012. Meaning there has been a staggering 100% increase in the number of apps downloaded over the course of a single year.

Since Apple launched its app store it has approved around 1.2 million apps, with around 850,000 currently available.

It is understood that Apple’s customers now download around 800 apps every second, more than two billion each month. At its current pace, Apple is now predicted to have 20 billion downloads per year or 50 million every day.

However, this success could be short lived for Apple. Its biggest rival Google is catching up, and fast!

The two giants of the app store market are virtually neck and neck in the race for downloads. Google has already hit 48 billion downloads and is expected to hit 50 billion this year.

Despite Apple’s head start, launching its App Store first, Google could be catching up sooner with there being almost twice as many android users around the world.

With Google’s download pace picking up, it is expected to overtake Apple very soon. Google, like Apple, launched as Android Market in 2008 and is estimated to have around 850,000 apps.

The battle between Apple and Google just proves how explosive the app market has become and is on course to grow by 1000% between now and 2015.