Apple has announced that 50 billion apps have now been downloaded from the App Store since the marketplace's inception, with the milestone having been passed 58 months after launch.

The total, which was conveniently hit right in the middle of rival Google's I/O conference in San Francisco, has resulted in Apple publishing a flood of statistics about the App Store, with the marketplace now averaging 2 billion app downloads a month.

Ahead of Google?

Apple also claimed that 800 apps are now being downloaded from the store every single second.

"Apple would like to thank our incredible customers and developers for topping 50 billion apps downloaded," said senior vice president of internet software and services Eddy Cue.

"The App Store completely transformed how people use their mobile devices and created a thriving app ecosystem that has paid out over nine billion dollars to developers. We're absolutely floored to cross this milestone in less than five years."

The stats suggest the App Store is no longer the sole driving force behind the industry, however. Just hours before, Google revealed that Google Play – just one of many Android app stores – has hit 48 billion app downloads, with 2.5 billion in the last month alone.

We look forward to Google releasing more mind blowing stats just in time for Apple's WWDC splash in San Francisco next month.

[source: Apple]