Of the 40 billion applications, nearly 20 billion were reportedly downloaded in 2012
Apple said there have been 40 billion unique application downloads from its App Store since its launch in 2008.
According to the firm, 20 billion of the 40 billion downloaded occured in 2012 alone.
The App store, which has 500 million active accounts and 775,000 apps available for iOS devices, witnessed 2 billion apps downloaded in December 2012.
Apple Internet Software and Services senior vice president Eddy Cue said that 2012 was an incredible year for the iOS developer community.
"Developers have made over seven billion dollars on the App Store, and we continue to invest in providing them with the best ecosystem so they can create the most innovative apps in the world," Cue said.
In June 2012, Apple's marketplace reached 30 billion downloads while in October 2012, the figure reached 35 billion application downloads.
App Store users can choose from a range of apps in 23 categories that include newspapers and magazines offered in Newsstand, games, business, news, sports, health & fitness and travel.
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