Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile

Apple’s App Store Hits 100,000 Programs

Geoff Duncan
By

Apple has announced that its App Store for the iPhone and iPod touch now offers more than 100,000 applications for the mobile devices, making it by far the largest mobile application store on the planet. All told, Apple says App Store users have downloaded more than 2 billion programs to enhance the functionality of their iPhones and iPod touch devices; many of those applications are free, but some notable developers (like game developers and navigation provider TomTom) are offering high-dollar applications and seeming to be making a good go of it.

Apple iPhone 3GS 16GB
Image used with permission by copyright holder

“The App Store [..] is clearly a major differentiator for millions of iPhone and iPod touch customers around the world,” said Apple’s senior VP of worldwide product marketing Philip Schiller,in a statement. “The iPhone SDK created the first great platform for mobile applications and our customers are loving all of the amazing apps our developers are creating.”

Recommended Videos

Apple’s iTunes 9 software introduced a new “Genius for Apps” feature that suggests applications that users might find worthwhile; Apple also recommends particular applications as “App Store Essentials.”

Related

Despite the obvious success of the App Store, many developers are still wary of Apple’s whimsical, arbitrary, and sometimes draconian policy of approving or rejecting iPhone applications. The company is currently the subject of an FCC inquiry over rejecting Google Voice for iPhone, which Apple claims replaces the device’s core dialing functionality. However, some other App Store rejections are just inscrutable: Macworld editor Jason Snell noted yesterday that Apple rejected the Macworld iPhone Superguide application simply because it contained the word “iPhone” in the title…never mind that the App Store had previously approved David Pogue’s iPhone: The Missing Manual. (Apple has since said it is resolving the “Superguide” rejection.)

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Geoff Duncan
Geoff Duncan
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…
iPhone SE 4: news, rumored price, release date, and more
The Apple iPhone SE (2022) and Apple iPhone SE (2020) together.

While the spotlight always seems to be on Apple’s mainline iPhones, the iPhone SE is a great pick for those who are on a budget. If you want an iPhone that doesn't break the bank, the SE is the way to go.

The original iPhone SE came out in 2016, and then Apple revamped it in 2020 and 2022 by giving it some more modern hardware. The iPhone SE tends to get updated every two or so years rather than annually like the traditional iPhone. This means  that we should see a new iPhone SE 4 this year, but it’s not so cut-and-dried with this particular model.

Read more
Here’s how Apple could change your iPhone forever
An iPhone 15 Pro Max laying on its back, showing its home screen.

Over the past few months, Apple has released a steady stream of research papers detailing its work with generative AI. So far, Apple has been tight-lipped about what exactly is cooking in its research labs, while rumors circulate that Apple is in talks with Google to license its Gemini AI for iPhones.

But there have been a couple of teasers of what we can expect. In February, an Apple research paper detailed an open-source model called MLLM-Guided Image Editing (MGIE) that is capable of media editing using natural language instructions from users. Now, another research paper on Ferret UI has sent the AI community into a frenzy.

Read more
There’s a big problem with the iPhone’s Photos app
The Apple iPhone 15 Plus's gallery app.

While my primary device these days continues to be my iPhone 15 Pro, I’ve dabbled with plenty of Android phones since I’ve been here at Digital Trends. One of my favorite brands of phone has been the Google Pixel because of its strong suite of photo-editing tools and good camera hardware.

Google first added the Magic Eraser capability with the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, which is a tool I love using. Then, with the Pixel 8 series, Google added the Magic Editor, which uses generative AI to make edits that wouldn’t be possible otherwise. There are also tools like Photo Unblur, which is great for old photographs and enhancing images that were captured with low-quality sensors.

Read more