Apple announces 10 billionth iTunes app store download.
ITunes just sold their ten billionth mobile app, only 2 ½ years since the Apple store first made its debut as the celebrated mobile application merchant for the groundbreaking iPhone.
With a menu that boasts paid and free apps for iPhone, iPod Touch and the new iPad for immediate download, Apple still leads the way over competitors like Google’s Android, HP’s Palm and Research In Motion’s Blackberry. While the Android is slowly gaining popularity, it currently only offers 130,000 apps to Apple’s staggering 300,000.
ITunes offers a selection of both paid and free mobile apps for immediate download; all that is required is a standard computer, internet connection and an Apple handheld device- iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and even the previously incompatible iPod Nano.
Medical apps are scoring big.
While gaming apps are the fave downloads for students, a new category is gaining popularity among iTunes’ more mature audiences: medical, healthcare and fitness apps. Since 2010, medical-related mobile applications have accounted for a record $84.1 million in sales, twice the amount iTunes grossed the previous year.
Here are the top 10 healthcare, fitness and medical apps people are purchasing today:
- Lose it, by Fit Now. Keep track of your daily eating habits and exercise goals; quickly find out how many calories you consume and spend each day. Free download.
- Nike + GPS, top seller in paid health apps, helps you record your progress on the run. $1.99.
- Foodscanner, Scan UPC barcodes for instant calorie information; highest grossing health app, $4.99.
- RXmind Me: never forget to take your pills; get scheduled alerts on your iPhone. Free.
- Medscape– one of the leading apps for healthcare professionals; get comprehensive medical information at your fingertips. Free.
- Anatomy in Motion Don’t let the high price tag deter your. This app features cutting edge, high definition illustrations of all three layers of the body- bones, muscular definition and epidermis. $25.99.
- Sleep; doze off to the soothing lullaby of crickets, raindrops or the melodious sound of harp strings. Choose from 84 recordings. $0.99.
- Supplements Guide; a handy glossary of all the different types of vitamins your body needs. $0.99.
- Weight Watchers Mobile Discreetly and easily jot down your daily WW points, calculate meals and keep track of favorite WW recipes. Free; Weight Watchers membership required.
- IScanner. Keep updated with emergency news updates from police reports, fire departments, and emergency medical response teams. $0.99
Buyers beware: critics such as MobiHealthNews are concerned that the 9,000 medical applications currently available may contain information that is not 100% accurate. As the Wall Street Journal points out, iTunes does not require FDA approval or medical certification of its medical application developers.