Today, Apple released iOS 4.2 for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
Consequently, most attention surrounding the release has been directed toward the slate of new bells and whistles that have found their way to the full breadth of the popular iDevice line.
As a result, it’s easy to understand how a small but significant piece of information can be almost entirely overlooked in the process.
In Apple’s official press release on its website today, Apple revealed that customers have now downloaded more than seven billion apps from the App Store and more than 300,000 apps are now available in 90 countries. Over 125 million iOS users can now choose from this swelling inventory of apps in 20 categories.
Incredibly, more than 40,000 of those apps are native iPad apps – an impressive reality when one considers how new both the iPad and its corresponding app store are.
With the Mac about to receive its very own dedicated app store, many industry analysts predict that the number of apps to be available at the end of 2011 could span between 500,000 and 750,000.
The biggest Apple news of the day, however, is that iOS 4.2 update is available to download to iPad, iPhone and iPod touch by syncing the device with iTunes 10.1. iOS 4.2 is compatible with iPad, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, second and third generation iPod touch (late 2009 models with 32GB or 64GB) and new iPod touch.
Some features may not be available on all products. For example, Multitasking requires iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, third generation iPod touch (late 2009 models with 32GB or 64GB) or later.