Tag Archives: milestone

iTunes Store reaches 25 billion downloads

On February 6 Apple announced a new milestone for the company: more than 25 billion songs have been purchased and downloaded from the iTunes Store. That’s an incredible feat, one that the App Store hit right around this time last year. Phillip Lüpke from Germany was the lucky person who nabbed the 25 billionth track–“Monkey Drums” (Goksel Vancin Remix) by Chase Buch–and won himself a €10,000 iTunes Gift Card courtesy of Apple.

“We are grateful to our users whose passion for music over the past 10 years has made iTunes the number one music retailer in the world,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s SVP of Internet Software and Services. “Averaging over 15,000 songs downloaded per minute, the iTunes Store connects music fans with their favorite artists, including global sensations like Adele and Coldplay and new artists like The Lumineers, on a scale we never imagined possible.”

One wonders how long it will take until the Store surpasses 50 billion songs downloaded. Dubbed “the world’s most popular music store” I surmise the company will reach that goal sooner rather than later.

[Via Apple]

‘Family Guy’ reaches 200 episodes this Sunday

After staging a comeback from the depths of cancellation, Seth MacFarlane’s Family Guy has managed to survive and thrive into its tenth season which premiere earlier this fall and tomorrow night the FOX animated sitcom will air its 200th episode. MacFarlane is acknowledging the milestone with a special episode titled “Yug Ylimaf” in which Brian fiddles with Stewie’s time machine and accidentally causes time to run in reverse. The logline spills that “he and Stewie must figure out how to restore the forward progress of time before Stewie is unborn.” The episode will relive a bunch of classic moments in Family Guy in reverse, including the unforgettable ipecac barf gag. Following the landmark 200th episode, FOX will air a half-hour retrospective called “200 Episodes Later” that includes a behind-the-scenes look at the long-running series and interviews with MacFarlane, producers, and the voice cast.

Sneak a peek at the one-hour Family Guy event set to air this Sunday at 9PM on FOX in the video embedded above.

Facebook reaches one billion active users

A million users isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? A billion users.

Today Mark Zuckerberg announced that there are more than one billion people using Facebook actively each month. In his own words through a short but sweet blog post:

This morning, there are more than one billion people using Facebook actively each month.

If you’re reading this: thank you for giving me and my little team the honor of serving you.

Helping a billion people connect is amazing, humbling and by far the thing I am most proud of in my life.

I am committed to working every day to make Facebook better for you, and hopefully together one day we will be able to connect the rest of the world too.

Whether or not this incredible factoid will help boost the social network’s failing stock, it’s something to really think about. What this means is that one in seven people all around the world log on to Facebook and actively spend time there for at least a month. Zuckerberg tagged his post with a fact sheet that spits out other impressive bits of info like… there have been over 1.13 “likes” since the site’s launch; 219 billion photos uploaded; 17 billion location-tagged posts; 62.6 million songs have been played 22 billion times; Facebook now has 600M mobile users; the median age of the user is about 22 (close your account, mom!); and the list goes on.

To celebrate the milestone, Facebook teamed with ad agency Wieden & Kennedy to produce a minute-and-a-half “brand video” entitled The Things That Connect Us. In an interview with Ad Age, Facebook’s head of consumer marketing Rebecca Van Dyck shared the inspiration behind it. “What we’re trying to articulate is that we as humans exist to connect, and we at Facebook to facilitate and enable that process. We make the tools and services that allow people to feel human, get together, open up. Even if it’s a small gesture, or a grand notion–we wanted to express that huge range of connectivity and how we interact with each other.”

The ad is embedded after the break. Continue reading Facebook reaches one billion active users

The 25th billion app has been downloaded in Apple’s App Store

Today Apple updated their homepage to celebrate another major milestone in the company’s relatively short history in the app domain. As of today, March 3, 2011, 25 billion apps have been downloaded in the company’s App Store. The lucky individual who downloaded the 25th billion app has been awarded a $10,000 gift card that can be applied to the App Store. Since you probably didn’t win, take solace in the fact that you were still likely part of it all by helping Apple reach this wildly impressive achievement.

Apple says 100 million apps downloaded from Mac App Store

Apple just loves to brag about their milestones, don’t they? This week the computer company announced that over 100 million apps have been downloaded from the Mac App Store in less than one year. Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller commented on the impressive feat. “In just three years the App Store changed how people get mobile apps, and now the Mac App Store is changing the traditional PC software industry. With more than 100 million downloads in less than a year, the Mac App Store is the largest and fastest growing PC software store in the world.” The celebration continues over the break with the full press release.

[Via Apple] Continue reading Apple says 100 million apps downloaded from Mac App Store

Apple hits new milestone: 15 billion App Store downloads

Apple recently announced that over 15 billion apps have been downloaded from its App Store by the more than 200 million iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users worldwide. Wowzers is the reaction you’re looking for. Apple’s tallied ’em up, and currently the App Store is now home to over 425,000 apps; additionally 100,000 native iPad apps exist. Thanks to Apple’s generosity the people who make the apps are getting paid, too; Apple has paid developers over $2.5 billion to date (there’s a 70/30 split, the devs receive the smaller sampling, naturally).

Says Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing: “In just three years, the revolutionary App Store has grown to become the most exciting and successful software marketplace the world has ever seen. Thank you to all of our amazing developers who have filled it with over 425,000 of the coolest apps and to our over 200 million iOS users for surpassing 15 billion downloads.”

Jump after the break to read the official PR which contains more quotes from excitable Apple employees.

[Via Apple] Continue reading Apple hits new milestone: 15 billion App Store downloads

Apple App Store hits 10 billion downloads

On Sunday Apple proclaimed that it hit the incredible 10 billion mark in terms of number of iOS apps sold.  Today the App Store offers more than 350,000 apps to iPhone, iPod touch and iPad users in 90 countries around the world.  Says Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing: “With more than 10 billion apps downloaded in just two and a half years–a staggering seven billion apps in the last year alone–the App Store has surpassed our wildest dreams.”  Gail Davis of Orpington, Kent, UK downloaded the 10 billionth app (it was Paper Glider) and will now receive a $10,000 iTunes gift card.  She should host a party with Louie Sulcer of Woodstock, Georgia; he also received the enormous gift for downloading the 10 billionth song using iTunes.

This really is a remarkable milestone for Apple, and I hope that competitors Android and Windows Phone 7 take this news and use it as fuel to amp up their respective app development following.

[Via Apple]

Sony ships 1 million Move controllers in first month of availability

The suits at Sony have something to smile about.  Today the company reported having shipped 1 million PlayStation Move controllers in North and Latin America in the first 30 days of availability.  SCEA CEO Jack Tretton is enthused to say the least.  “Retail demand is incredibly strong and we’re working hard to keep the product in stock”, he said.  “We believe consumers have already shown their preference for a precise, interactive game experience.  We are on target to meet our end of year goals and expect sales to increase as our publishers and developers continue to update popular titles and introduce new games.”  This is certainly great news for Sony, but Joystiq makes a solid point when they say this announcement does not help you figure the precise install base of the new motion controller.  Many PS3 owners likely purchased more than one Move for two-hand and multiplayer functionality.  Still, this does not take away the fact that Sony has something powerful in their (er, our) hands.  Right now there’s 24 Move-supported titles out, with 17 more promised before the year runs out.  I gotta get my Move on.  Full PR after the break.

[Via Joystiq] Continue reading Sony ships 1 million Move controllers in first month of availability

Apple sells 2 million iPads in under 60 days

It seems like it was just yesterday when we received news that Apple sold one million iPads in a matter of 28 days.  Oh wait–that did just happen.  Time for another milestone in the history of the iPad.  Shortly after launching the iPad in international waters (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK), Apple can proudly claim that they’ve sold two million iPads in under 60 days since its US launch on April 3.  Says Apple CEO Steve Jobs: “Customers around the world are experiencing the magic of iPad, and seem to be loving it as much as we do. We appreciate their patience, and are working hard to build enough iPads for everyone.”  And let the good times roll for Team Apple.  Full PR after the break.

[Via Apple] Continue reading Apple sells 2 million iPads in under 60 days

Steve Jobs receives best birthday gift ever: 10 billion iTunes songs sold all-time

Apple CEO Steve Jobs celebrated his 55th birthday yesterday.  What also happened that day?  iTunes sold its 10 billionth song.  Greatest birthday gift ever?  Yeah I think so.  Congratulations, Apple.  This is quite the achievement and deserves a top spot among the rest of them.

Fun fact #1: The 10 billionth song download was Johnny Cash’s “Guess Things Happen That Way.”  It was downloaded by Louie Sulcer of Woodstock, Georgia who was granted a $10,000 iTunes gift card for being the one to hit the milestone number.  Also tomorrow (2/26) is Cash’s birthday; he would have been 78 years old.

Fun fact #2: Click here to see the top 20 most downloaded songs on iTunes since its inception.  They include songs from Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, Kary Perry, and Miley Cyrus.  Scary, I know.

[Via Apple]