As part of the "Countdown to 10 Billion" app downloads, Apple has listed its all-time best sellers in both the iPad and iPhone categories. Presumably you've already grabbed a few of these, but if you are new to the iVerse, or just want to see what gets the masses all giddy, you should take a look.
I've included the total number of apps in each category, to get a sense of the scope of the competition, the size difference between iPhone and iPad apps, and to point out something surprising: There are far more paid apps than free apps, for both the iPhone and the iPad.
iPhone - All-time top paid
Total number of apps in the category: 202,163
It's no surprise that all but one of the best iPhone apps are games -- the only oddball is a 99-cent multifunction utility app called AppBox Pro that even I was conned into paying for once upon a time.
1. Doodle Jump
2. Tap Tap Revenge 3
3. Pocket God
4. Angry Birds
5. Tap Tap Revenge 2.6
6. Bejeweled 2 + Blitz
7. Traffic Rush
8. Tap Tap Revenge Classic (Note: Are you seeing a pattern here?)
9. AppBox Pro
10. Flight Control
iPhone - All-time top free
Total number of apps in the category: 105,402
Here you get more basic social networking, entertainment and utility apps, plus one single solitary game. What's interesting is what didn't make the top 10 (but are not far behind): Yelp, Urbanspoon, eBay, AIM and that venerated freebie, Flashlight.
1. Facebook
2. Pandora Radio
3. Google Mobile App
4. Shazam
5. Movies by Flixter
6. The Weather Channel
7. Google Earth
8. Bump
9. Skype
10. Paper Toss
iPad - All-time top paid
Total number of apps in the category: 43,834
This one is more of a mix of games and other apps. Surprisingly, top of the charts is a classy (but also, at $4.99, rather pricey) music manager and song identifier called SoundHound. Those who think the world's going to hell in a handbasket will be happy to know that iFart is also in the top 10. And perhaps indicative of the fact that frequent travelers are iPad early adopters, the $4.99 Flight Track is high on the list.
1. SoundHound
2. StickWars
3. FlightTrack
4. BackBreaker Football
5. Calorie Tracker
6. BlocksClassic
7. iFart Mobile
8. GoodReader
9. Cro-Mag Rally
10. Ambiance
iPad - All-time top free
Total number of apps in the category: 15,822
Though there's overlap with the free iPhone apps in the form of Pandora, Google Mobile and Movies by Flixter, and some obvious tablet-friendly apps like Google Earth and Apple's own iBooks, a few apps that arguably make more sense for phones have made it into the tablet top 10, particularly Yelp and Fandango. There's also a Holy Bible (so maybe you can forget about that handbasket?), and one game: Solitaire, naturally.
1. Pandora Radio
2. Google Mobile
3. Movies by Flixter
4. Google Earth
5. Yelp
6. Fandango Movies
7. Remote
8. iBooks
9. Bible
10. Solitaire
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