Apple Begins Countdown to 1 Billionth iPhone Apps Downloaded from the App Store

Apple has put up a webpage to countdown the 1 billionth iPhone app downloaded from the App Store. To celebrate this significant milestone, Apple will be giving away prizes such as a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card, an iPod touch, a Time Capsule, and a MacBook Pro.

Apple's counter currently reads 929,379,500 and it's moving very fast.

You can checkout some interesting details about the iPhone apps that are currently available on the App Store after the break.

The number of iPhone apps has crossed the 33,000 mark but since Apple has removed, rejected or banned iPhone apps from the App Store for reasons such as copyright issues, duplicating functionality, offering tethering functionality, based on limited utility, content or materials found objectionable, just a ridiculous app etc, the active iPhone apps is just above 31,500 (and counting) as per AppShopper.

The approaching milestone of 1 billion iPhone apps downloaded reveals some interesting details:

• If you purchase all the iPhone apps from the App Store, it would cost you $87,856.17.
• The most popular price for an iPhone app is still $0.99. There are 14,159 iPhone apps available at that price range. If you had thought it would be free apps then it is still a distant second with 7,863 iPhone apps available for free.
• The average cost of an iPhone app is $2.63 including free apps which indicates that the average cost is slowly coming down. The average cost was $2.79 when the App Store had crossed the 25000 mark, it was $3.12 when the App Store had crossed the 10,000 mark.
• The number of the iPhone apps that are being added every month to the App Store is increasing steadily. 3,808 iPhone apps were added in Dec 2008, 4,843 added in Jan 2009, 5,549 iPhone apps in Feb 2009 and a massive 6,719 iPhone Apps in Mar 2009.
• iPhone games is the most popular category of iPhone apps with 6,660 and Weather is the least popular category with 170 iPhone apps.

Apple also published the all-time top 20 iPhone apps, both paid and free.

Top 20 All-Time Free Apps:

1. Facebook
2. Google Earth
3. Pandora Radio
4. Tap Tap Revenge
5. Shazam
6. Pacman Lite
7. Backgrounds
8. Touch Hockey
9. Labyrinth
10. Flashlight
11. Urbanspoon
12. Movies
13. iBowl
14. Lightsaber Unleashed
15. SOl Free Solitaire
16. MySpace Mobile
17. Virtual Zippo Lighter
18. The Weather Channel
19. BubbleWrap
20. Remote

Top 20 All-Time Paid Apps:

1. Crash Banidcoot
2. Koi Pond
3. Enigmo
4. Bejeweled 2
5. iBeer
6. Moto Chaser
7. Pocket Guitar
8. Flick Fishing
9. Tetris
10. Texas Hold Em
11. Super Monkey Ball
12. Pocket God
13. Cro-Mag Rally
14. Ocarina
15. Fieldrunners
16. iFart Mobile
17. Touchgrind
18. iHunt
19. iShoot
20. Monopoly

1 billion iPhone apps downloaded in less than a year is very impressive when you consider that it took Apple about 2 years to sell 1 billion songs on iTunes. Interestingly as per Wikipedia, Alex Ostrovsky who bought the billionth song, "Speed of Sound" by Coldplay got a call from Steve Jobs with the good news that the sixteen-year-old was getting ten iPods, an iMac, a $10,000 music gift certificate, and a scholarship established in his name at the Juilliard School.

You can checkout this webpage for the contest details, so don't miss your chance to win those fantastic prizes.

To see some of our favorite iPhone apps checkout the iPhone Apps review section.

Please don't forget to drop us a line in the comments below to tell us your favorite iPhone app or apps.