Apple flexes its apps - FT.com Apple has asserted its leadership in the mobile applications market, revealing 20bn apps were downloaded on its iPhone, iPad and iPods in 2012. Firing a shot across the bow of its rivals as they unveiled new tablets and smart televisions at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Apple said it set a record with 2bn app downloads during December, taking its total to 40bn since the launch of the App Store in 2008. Apple also said it has 500m active accounts for purchasing apps through the App Store and media on iTunes, up from 435m in September and 400m in June. The figure emphasises a key advantage that the iPhone maker holds over its rivals in the mobile market, helping to keep customers loyal to its iOS platform. However, Google's rival Android smartphone system is gaining popularity among developers and consumers. In September, Google said it had reached 25bn downloads from Google Play, its Android app marketplace, and had activated more than 500m Android devices globally. The timing of Apple's announcement, coming amid several new "smart" TV launches from the likes of Samsung and LG at CES on Monday, has led some observers to speculate on what the App Store's strength might mean for a long-rumoured Apple TV set. "There must be at least 10m Apple TVs in use which run iOS," said Horace Dediu, mobile analyst at Asymco, referring to the $99 set-top box that Apple sells today. When will they get apps? Dan Cryan, digital media analyst at IHS Screen Digest, said: "There are several possible ways for Apple to enter the TV business, but one of the more obvious would be to let broadcasters and pay-TV operators build apps for the new system." Mr Cryan said this would led content owners "retain control of the consumer experience" while making it easier for Apple to provide TV shows to customers around the world, rather than trying to strike more content deals itself. As television sets absorb more internet capabilities, many manufacturers offer apps to watch services such as YouTube or Netflix. Smartphones and tablets are also increasingly coming into play as remote controls for the TV or to stream content between screens. Samsung is working to create a more consistent user experience between all its devices, despite using its own software platform on TV, Google's Android in most smartphones and Windows 8 on its PCs. Samsung has about 1,000 TV apps but has not disclosed how many people have created Samsung user accounts. Google TV, the search company's struggling internet-TV platform that has hundreds of dedicated apps and can run thousands of Android apps, was given a boost at CES as LG announced that it would integrate the technology into seven of its new TVs. Mr Dediu calculated that Apple's app and music store has been adding 14m users a month for the past 18 months, with an iPhone or iPad owner spending about $1.37 on an average of 5.5 apps per device every month. Benedict Evans, analyst with Enders Analysis, used the figures to estimate spending on the App Store is running at an annualised figure of about $4.25bn per year. Apple's shares were about 1 per cent lower at $521.79 on Monday half way through the trading day in New York.