After a very brief countdown, and with the next iPad just days away from its release, Apple recently passed 25 billion apps downloaded on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, and as part of the celebration, it has released a list of the 25 most downloaded iOS apps for both the iPad and the iPhone of all time.
You can download all of these super popular apps in iTunes here (if you haven't already!), but if you're just looking to browse, we've got the list right here. Here, for example, are the top 25 free iPhone apps (with download links, for your convenience):
1. Facebook
2. Pandora Radio
3. Words With Friends Free
4. Skype
5. The Weather Channel
6. Google Search
7. Google Earth
8. Angry Birds Free
9. Shazam
10. Netflix
11. Paper Toss
12. Twitter
13. Movies by Flixster
14. Bump
15. PAC-MAN Lite
16. Flashlight.
17. Unblock Me FREE
18. Temple Run
19. Instagram
20. Touch Hockey
21. Angry Birds Lite
22. ESPN ScoreCenter
23. Fruit Ninja Lite
24. Groupon
25. Angry Birds Rio Free
A few things to note here:
- Facebook, who has often been called an enemy of Apple's, has the most downloaded app on the iPhone of all time. Apple raised eyebrows in Fall 2011 when it chose to integrate Twitter into its iOS operating system rather than Facebook; the Facebook app, meanwhile, is likely the most downloaded app of all time on any iOS device, in terms of raw numbers.
- Skype, owned by another Apple rival in Microsoft, is the fourth most downloaded free iPhone app of all time, despite Apple having its FaceTime alternative pre-installed on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S.
- The Weather Channel is the fifth most downloaded free iPhone app of all time, despite Apple's weather app coming pre-installed on all iPhones.
- Google Search is the sixth most downloaded free iPhone app of all time, despite Google search being standard in the Safari browser on the iPhone
- Google -- which is Apple's most notable and well-established rival in the mobile space -- makes two of the top ten most downloaded free apps on the iPhone of all time. Microsoft owns another.
- The most popular free games for iPhone of all time? Words with Friends, Angry Birds, Paper Toss, PAC-MAN, Unblock Me, Temple Run, Touch Hockey, Angry Birds Lite, and Fruit Ninja Lite.
Also out are the top 25 free iPad apps. Feel free to bookmark this list if you are one of those planning on buying the new iPad that Apple might be, and almost certainly is, unveiling on March 7th:
1. Angry Birds HD Free
2. The Weather Channel for iPad
3. Netflix
4. Skype for iPad
5. Kindle
6. ABC Player
7. Pandora Radio
8. Angry Birds Rio HD Free
9. CNN App for iPad
10. Words With Friends HD Free
11. Google Earth
12. Calculator Pro for iPad Free
13. Fruit Ninja HD Lite
14. Calculator for iPad Free
15. NYTimes for iPad
16. USA TODAY for iPad
17. Facebook
18. MyPad for Facebook & Twitter
19. Flipboard
20. eBay for iPad
21. Angry Birds Seasons HD Free
22. Dictionary.com
23. Twitter
24. Solitaire
25. Friendly for Facebook
Of note here:
- The iPad is an Angry Birds machine: Angry Birds HD Free, Angry Birds Rio HD Free, and Angry Birds Seasons HD Free are all in the top 25 apps of all time.
- Again, apps with Apple-made alternatives proved popular, with Amazon's Kindle (as opposed to iBooks) and Skype for iPad (as opposed to FaceTime) both nabbing top 10 appearances.
- The iPad came with the hope that it might save newspapers, or at least re-engage or re-connect tablet owners with news sites and magazines. Of the top 25 Free iPad Apps of All Time, four are focused on the news: CNN, the New York Times, and USA Today all won big with their apps, while Flipboard -- a snazzy app that aggregates and personalizes news for individual users -- also snuck into a top 25 slot.
- ABC is alone among the major network offering full episodes of new television shows for free (with ads) on the iPad; its tablet-optimized app is also the sixth most downloaded app in the history of the iPad. If ABC demonstrates solid revenue from its iPad app, perhaps other networks will follow ABC's lead sooner than later.
- Two calculator applications made the Top 25. Though Apple provides a Calculator app on the iPhone, it does not on the iPad (Same situation with a Weather app: Comes with iPhone, not with iPad). Perhaps it's time for Apple to develop a Calculator app of its own for iPad.
Apple released this list, again, as part of its "25 Billion Apps Downloaded" celebration, which also included Apple rewarding one lucky winner with a $10,000 gift certificate for iTunes Store downloads (Why not $25 billion dollars in iTunes downloads, Apple?). For those with a little cash, Apple also released the top paid apps for both the iPhone and the iPad, which you can check out in iTunes here.