Jobs: "App Store is like nothing the industry has ever seen before"

App Store users have downloaded more than 1.5 billion applications in just one year of the digital store's opening, with the service now hosting 65,000 apps, according to official figures released by Apple.

The company behind the iPhone and iPod also revealed just how fast the App Store is growing, with more than 100,000 developers signed up to the iPhone Developer Program.

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

Customers spanning 77 countries have access to the full App Store, allowing developers to reach users around the world.

These latest figures are released almost one year on from the opening of the App Store to the day. The Store went live on July 10, 2008 via an update to iTunes.