App Store hits 1.5 billion downloads in one year

Apple has announced that its customers downloaded more than 1.5 billion applications from the App Store during its first year of operation, making it “the largest applications store in the world.” The company added that the App Store continues to grow at a fast pace, with more than 65,000 apps now available and more than 100,000 developers in the iPhone Developer Program. “The App Store is like nothing the industry has ever seen before in both scale and quality,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “With 1.5 billion apps downloaded, it is going to be very hard for others to catch up.” The App Store is now available in 77 countries; the store passed the billion download milestone in late April, meaning the pace of downloads is likely quickening as well.