Apple app downloads hit 40 billion

Apple said this week 40 billion downloads have been snapped up from the App Store to date, with almost half occurring last year alone.

The number (which does not include repeat downloads or updates) is equal to nearly six downloads for every man, woman and child on earth. Despite this, Apple says there are a mere 500 million active Apple Store accounts.

More than 20 billion of the downloads were in 2012, possibly due to an influx of new Apple products. Last year saw updates to the iPhone, iPod touch and Apple TV, two generations of iPad, plus the launch of the iPad mini.

December proved a bumper month, with more than two billion apps coming down the digital Christmas chimney. 

Google, meanwhile, is catching up to Apple in app numbers. The iOS App Store currently has over 775,000 apps, while the Google Play store for Android hit 700,000 apps last October. Meanwhile The Sociable predicts Google will reach one million apps this June, beating Apple to the milestone.