The average iOS user has downloaded 60 apps

by Samuel Gibbs on January 17, 2011 at 05:10 AM

It's clear that apps are the new black. Mobile operating systems seem to strive or die by the number of apps their platform boasts, with some going to extraordinary lengths to get app developers on board. Asmyco, an app developer come industry analyst firm, recently put out a post essentially stating that for each iDevice sold, 60 apps have been downloaded. They worked out this magical number from the number of iOS apps downloaded, which is approaching 10 billion total downloads, dividing it by the total number of iOS devices sold.

It's important to note that it's not just iPhones that they're counting here: iPod touch and iPad play a significant role in bolstering the total number of iDevices out there, but 60 apps per iDevice seems incredible. Of course Apple doesn't put out precise numbers for these things, and Asmyco might be over exaggerating for all we know, but even if it was 40-50 apps per iDevice that's a huge number.

It would be interesting to note how many of these apps are paid apps. With so many free apps available, one could easily download over 60 apps without paying a penny. 60 apps per device is of course an average, and doesn't mean that end-users have 60 apps on their device at any one time, just that they were downloaded. It also doesn't take into account the product replacement cycle. For instance, a user might have gone through three iPhones since the App Store launched, downloading a fresh set of apps to each iPhone in turn, artificially inflating the numbers.

Whatever you think of the actual metrics behind this impressive number, it's clear that user investment in the iOS platform is high and increasing. Once a iOS user has sunk significant amounts of money into apps, it's difficult to see them switching their platform of choice. While it was probably the plan from the very start of the App Store -- apps may have become the biggest platform lock-in of them all. Tags: Apple, apps, cellphone, cellphones, iOS, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, IpodTouch, mobile