More than ten billion apps have now been downloaded from Apple’s online store since it was introduced two and half years ago, as the popularity of its iPod Touches, iPhones and iPads continues.

The bulk of the downloading from the App Store has happened over the past 12 months, with seven billion having taken place in that period, partly as a result of the introduction of Apple’s market-leading tablet PC the iPad.

British Apple customer Gail Davis found herself downloading the 10 billionth app from the store and was handed an iTunes gift card worth around £5,000 as a result.

In typically confident style, Apple has been keen to emphasis the ways in which its store has “revolutionised how software is created, distributed, discovered and sold”.

The company’s senior vice president for worldwide product marketing Philip Schiller commented: “With more than ten billion apps downloaded in just two and a half years – a staggering seven billion apps in the last year alone – the App Store has surpassed our wildest dreams.”

“While others try to copy the App Store, it continues to offer developers and customers the most innovative experience on the planet.”

The latest financial figures released by Apple showed that they had sold more than seven million iPads and four million Mac laptops during the most recently assessed quarter. In a subsequent media event, Apple’s chief operating officer Tim Cook described the potential Android-based tablet PC rivals to the iPad as “vapour” and suggested that they are currently little more than “scaled-up smartphones”.

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British Telecom has launched a new app designed to make it easier for its home broadband customers to get online using their Apple iPads.

With two million Wi-Fi hotspots around the UK, BT is among the leading suppliers of internet coverage in the country and its iPad app follows similar offerings for users of Android operated tablets and smartphones.

A mapping service, making clear where your nearest Wi-Fi hotspot is, comes along with the free app, which can now be downloaded by iPad owners around the country, as long as they are on one of BT’s relevant tariffs.

“Our free app for the iPhone and Android devices has proved a huge hit with over 400,000 downloads to date, so launching an app for the iPad was naturally the next step,” commented John Petter, managing director of BT Retail Consumer.

“The app makes accessing Wi-Fi so simple you don’t even have to think about it and represents real value to our customers at a time when more and more people are accessing the internet when they are on the move.”

BT’s Wi-Fi zones tend to be in the busier spots around British cities, coffee shops, motorway service stations, hotels etc and you’ll need a BT internet address and home broadband password in order to get online using your iPad in any of these various locations.

Rumours are currently flying around about what we can expect from a second iteration of the all-conquering iPad, with some sources suggesting they’ll have a front-facing camera and that the graphics capacity will be notably increased.

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