Apple Apps Surpass 45 Billion Unique Downloads, Developer Payments Surpass $9 Billion

The Apple App Store continues to prove that the third-party app atmosphere is alive, well, and extremely profitable.

During the company’s Q1 financial call on Tuesday, it was revealed that 45 billion unique app downloads have been completed. Apple announced four months ago that the Apple App Store had achieved 40 billion unique app downloads.

Based on current numbers, Apple’s App Store is experiencing 800 app downloads per second.

Apple’s app store currently houses 850,000 iOS apps with 350,000 apps designed for the Apple iPad.

To put those numbers in comparison, Apple’s iPad line now has the same number of iOS apps that were offered for all Apple devices in January 2011. At the time of its 350,000 apps total, the Apple iPad was home to just over 60,000 software options.

Based on current numbers, the Apple iPad has experienced a 483 percent increase in the number of apps available over a two-year period.

The Cupertino software and hardware giant also revealed that its Apps are now available in 155 countries. Ninety percent of all Apple iPhone users now have full access to the Apple App Store catalog of programs.

In mid-February, Apple revealed that it had paid $8 billion to developers, a number that in the last two months has increased to $9 billion.

Apple, Inc. is now paying $1 billion per quarter to its developer base, money that is paid via a combination of app and in-app purchases.

$4.5 billion of Apple’s payments to developers have been paid out in the last four quarters of business.

With more developers figuring out how to generate revenue for their programs, the amount being paid out by Apple is likely to increase during future financial calls.