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GetJar eclipses 2B app downloads, led by 100M Facebook installs

July 29, 2011 — 8:26am ET | By Jason Ankeny

GetJar surpassed the 2 billion application download milestone this week, a number the company said tops all other cross-platform app stores. Leading the charge: Facebook, which now exceeds 100 million GetJar user downloads. In addition, GetJar reaches more than one million Facebook Connect users, bolstering social interactions across the platform.

GetJar now touts roughly 150,000 applications across the Android, BlackBerry, Java and Symbian platforms, with support for more than 2,500 devices. In addition, GetJar developer registrations are closing in on 350,000.

Earlier this month, GetJar stated it will not bow to a cease-and-desist letter from Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) attorneys insisting that the firm stop using the term "app store" on its website and elsewhere. The Wall Street Journal reported that attorneys from the firm Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP mailed GetJar a letter demanding that the firm eschew "app store" in favor of "mobile download service" or "application download service." GetJar--which began distributing free apps in early 2005, more than three years prior to the App Store's launch--isn't having it.

"GetJar won't be subject to this kind of bullying," writes chief marketing officer Patrick Mork on the GetJar Developer Blog. "We're not going to 'Cease & Desist.' We were here long before Steve [Jobs, Apple's CEO] & Co. We were built by developers, to help developers. Not to help sell handsets or search results... Steve Jobs isn't our Dad." GetJar has used "app store" in its press releases and consumer marketing efforts since 2009, but does not employ the term in its brand/slogan or strapline.

Apple previously filed a trademark lawsuit against online retailer Amazon.com over its Amazon Appstore for Android. Apple claims the value of the App Store brand will suffer irreparable harm as consumers confuse the service with the Amazon storefront, which opened in March 2011. Amazon has argued that the term is generic and therefore does not fall under copyright protection.

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