Aug 11 (Reuters) - Apple Inc users have downloaded more than 60
million programs for the iPhone, in the month since the technology company
opened the App Store, an online software clearinghouse, chief Executive Steve
Jobs told The Wall Street Journal.
Apple sold an average of $1 million a day in applications for a total of
about $30 million in sales over the month, Jobs told the paper.
If sales stay at the current pace, Apple stands to earn at least $360
million a year in new revenue from the App Store, Jobs said.
"This thing's going to crest a half a billion, soon," Jobs told the journal
adding that it may be a "$1 billion marketplace at some point in time."
Jobs told the paper that Apple is keeping only 30 percent of the proceeds
from application sales while the programs' creators keep 70 percent.
However, Jobs believes that applications will sell more iPhones and
wireless-enabled iPod touch devices, enhancing the appeal of the products in the
same way.
Jobs confirmed that iPhones routinely check an Apple Web site that could, in
theory, trigger the removal of the undesirable software from the devices.
He told the paper that Apple needed the capability in case it inadvertently
allowed a malicious program to be distributed to iPhones through the App Store.
Apple could not be immediately reached for comment.
(Reporting by Ajay Kamalakaran in Bangalore) Keywords: APPLE/CEO
tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.com
ejp
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