Apple Starts Countdown To 1 Billion App Downloads; Reveals Top 20 Of All Time

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Apple Starts Countdown To 1 Billion App Downloads; Reveals Top 20 Of All Time

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Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) has launched a clock that is rapidly ticking up to mark the one-billionth iPhone application download. The countdown (or rather, count up) reveals the lightening fast pace that applications are being downloaded from the nine-month old mobile store.

This morning, the count stands at 929 million downloads, which is moving so quickly, it could hit 1 billion within 10 days. From the looks of it, about 100 apps are being downloaded every second—that’s 6,000 every minute, 360,000 every hour and 8.6 million a day. Everyone knew that thousands of downloads were occurring every month, but this visual really puts it into context. I’m sure every mobile platform is envious of this pace.

In addition, Apple also revealed a list of the top 20 paid and free applications of all time. The list differs from a comScore report released earlier this week that listed the top 25, but did not break them out by free and paid. It also was only able to see which applications people downloaded through their PC.

Apple’s entire list, and some high-level findings, can be found after the jump.

—Top Apps: While comScore (NSDQ: SCOR) said Tap Tap Revenge was the top app, Apple said the top paid app was Vivendi’s Crash Bandicoot (which is currently $5.99) and the top free app is Facebook. Tap Tap ranked fourth, according to Apple.

—Games: Games was the leading category comprising of 14 of the top 20 paid apps and six of the top 20 free apps.

—Entertainment and Music: After games, the top two categories are entertainment and music. The Koi Pond is the top ranking paid entertainment app, and Pandora and Shazam rank high as two free music apps.

—Price: Prices for these apps have likely changed over time, but currently, the most common price is 99 cents with half of the top 20 charging that much. The second most common price is $4.99, with prices ranging as high as $5.99.

—Brands: It is not just big well-known brands that are making it into the top 20. For instance, the infamous Ethan Nicholas, who quit his day job to develop iPhone apps full-time, hit No. 19 with his iShoot game. However, most of the top game titles come from brands, such as Vivendi (EPA: VIV), PopCap and EA. Brands also dominate the free category, with Facebook at No. 1, but one-offs, like Flashlight also doing well.