Apple Apps Store: 250K Apps, Break Even, 70% paid downloads and 5 billion downloads

Two years and 49 days after its launch, the Apple Apps store passed the quarter million applications milestone just in time for the September Apple event. There were 251,007 applications from 50,304 publishers available for download for the iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. Appshopper.com estimates the total at 253,777 apps, including 24,334 for the iPad. This one is “One Up” for Apple: 70% of app download on Apple are paid apps which pales Google’s 36% paid apps.

New stats from 148Apps state that books (with 17%) have now overtaken games (14%) and entertainment (11%) in the Apps stores.The Apps store has downloaded 5 billion Apps downloads.The Apps store has generated a revenue of $249 million for Apple since its launch 2 years back and is on the verge of breaking even on its costs.

Another report by Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster lays down the following key findings:

• $1 billion generated for developers since the store launched on 7/10/08 suggests gross app store revenue of $1.4 billion, $429 million of which Apple keeps after paying the developers’ 70% cut.
• App pricing data suggest that 81% of apps are free and 19% are paid, with an ASP (average selling price) of $1.49.
• Apple’s gross margin on the App Store is about 44%, according to Munster, assuming 70% goes to the developer, $0.20 plus 2% of the ASP to the credit card company, and 1% for storage and delivery.
• Apple has generated a total of $33.7 billion in gross profit since the App Store launched, to which the App Store has contributed $189 million, or 1%.
• Over the same time period (Q4 2008 to Q2 2010), the entire iTunes store has generated $3.6 billion in revenue, to which the App Store has contributed $429 million, or 12%.
Munster’s numbers suggest that iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users download more than 16.6 million apps per day, nearly double the 8.9 million daily rate of iTunes tracks downloaded.

A few numbers on the Apple Apps stores:
Total Active Apps (currently available for download): 252,894
Total Inactive Apps (no longer available for download): 49,769
Total Apps Seen in US App Store: 302,663
Number of Active Publishers in the US App Store: 50,606

A graphic on the numbers in the store: Applications and Games