Submitted by Bob Bhatnagar on
Since surpassing the two billionth download mark this September, the App Store has seen an amazing increase in downloads over the holiday season. New iPhone owners are certainly involved, but iPod Touch users have surpassed iPhone downloads for the first time in late December.
With over 100,000 applications to choose from, owners carrying iPod Touch devices downloaded 1,000% more apps on Christmas than they did on the previous three Fridays. Yes, one thousand percent more downloads.
Research firm Flurry released the numbers in a report titled "2009 Holiday Report: Christmas Growth." The company believes the massive increase in downloads on Christmas was largely due to iTunes gift cards given as gifts.
Overall downloads in the App Store in December increased 50% over downloads in November.
It's estimated that out of 58 million Apple mobile devices 60 percent are iPhones and the rest are iPod Touch models. According to Morgan Stanley analyst Kathryn Huberty, "The ramp [growth rate] of the iPhone and iPod Touch in the first eight or nine quarters is more than five times the ramp for the Internet."