iTunes App Store hits 1.5 billion downloads

The iPhone App Store now offers around 65,000 applications

Apple has announced that its iTunes App Store has served up more than 1.5 billion downloads.

The company said on Tuesday that the service, which offers third-party software for the iPhone and iPod touch, had hit the sales milestone just a year after launching.

The store went live in July 2009 to coincide with the release of the iPhone 2.0 software update and the iPhone 3G model, as well as international availability for the smartphone.

The service allows developers to submit applications which, if approved by Apple, can be sold on the App Store at a price set by the developer.

Apple said that it has amassed some 65,000 applications since the store was launched, and has enrolled more than 100,000 developers in its partner programme.

"The App Store is like nothing the industry has ever seen before in both scale and quality," boasted Apple co-founder and chief executive Steve Jobs. " With 1.5 billion apps downloaded, it is going to be very hard for others to catch up."

The App Store has not, however, been without some controversy. Developers have complained that Apple's approval process is inconsistent, and that applications which do not appear to violate any rules have been rejected.

Apple has maintained that it will not allow unlawful or pornographic content on the store, nor applications which provide services Apple already offers with its own iPhone software.