GetJar's App Store Hits Half Billion DownloadsGetJar's App Store Hits Half Billion Downloads

While Apple's App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch is drawing a lot of attention in the application space, GetJar said Wednesday its mobile store has surpassed over a half billion downloads.

The company offers an independent over-the-air app store that enables users to browse, buy, download, and install programs onto a variety of handsets including smartphones and feature phones. The company offers more than 50,000 apps in over 200 countries, and GetJar has been chosen to handle the backend for Sony Ericsson's upcoming app store.

"GetJar's success to date is the product of the innovation, hard work, and loyalty of our developer community -- from small, two-man teams in India to large-scale developers in the United States or Europe," said GetJar CEO Ilja Laurs in a statement. "Making sure developers have an open, free, and quick way to get their content distributed globally is essential to provide the widest offering of quality apps to consumers."

The company offers mobile developers an opportunity to reach a massive audience across multiple carriers. GetJar said it has seen 5 million downloads for Google Maps for mobile, 17 million downloads for Opera Mini, 14 million downloads for Nimbuzz, and over 16 million downloads for eBuddy.

The mobile application space is becoming increasingly crowded, as Apple, Google, Nokia, Microsoft, Research In Motion, and Vodafone all will soon have virtual stores for distributing mobile programs. GetJar said there will be plenty of room for multiple application vendors, and it said the boutique nature of things like the App Store could limit its appeal.

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