∞ Apple's App Store downloads expected to climb 61% in 2011

Apple’s iOS App Store has been a huge success for the company and recent analysis suggest that trend will only grow in 2011.

[ad#Google Adsense 300×250 in story]According to data from Piper Jaffray Senior Research Analyst Gene Munster, iOS users will download 61 percent more apps in 2011 than they did in 2010. Breaking it down by individual device, Munster says each user will download 83 apps in 2011 compared to 51 apps in 2010.

Munster’s data suggests that 82 percent of the apps available from the store are free and 18 percent are paid. The average selling price for the paid apps is $1.44.

Last week Apple said users had downloaded more than 15 billion apps to date. The App Store now has more than 425,000 apps available for download, with more than 100,000 of them being native for the iPad.

All told, the App Store now supports a market of more than 200 million iOS device users worldwide.

“We believe this trend points to the increasing importance of an app store with a broad selection of tested apps to drive device sales,” said Munster in a note sent to clients on Monday. “Smartphone users are showing an increasing appetite to use apps to add features to their phones, and iOS has the leading app ecosystem.”