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Apple's App Store tops 3 billion downloads

The store, which launched in July 2008 with 500 apps, reached the 2 billion download milestone just two months ago.

Jim Dalrymple Special to CNET News
Jim Dalrymple has followed Apple and the Mac industry for the last 15 years, first as part of MacCentral and then in various positions at Macworld. Jim also writes about the professional audio market, examining the best ways to record music using a Macintosh. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. He currently runs The Loop.
Jim Dalrymple

Apple

Apple's App Store hit another milestone Tuesday, topping 3 billion downloads.

The store, which launched in July 2008 with just 500 applications, now offers more than 100,000 free and paid apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Apple didn't break down how many of the downloaded apps were paid and how many were free, but the App Store does provide lists of its most popular apps in those categories.

The App Store reached the 1 billion download mark in April and the 2 billion mark in November.

The success of the App Store has forced other mobile companies to try to mimic its success. LG, Research In Motion, Nokia, Google, Palm and Microsoft all have their own stores or plan to open one.

So far, no one has been able to match the number of applications or downloads from Apple's store.