Apple says App Store downloads top 15 billion

Phone, iPad and iPod Touch users have downloaded more than 15 billion apps for their gadgets, Apple Inc. said on Thursday.

The milestone was announced on the same day that Apple said it was working to fix a security issue for the three popular tech products that a Germany agency warned could be used by criminals to gain access to confidential data.

The company crossed the 10 billion downloads mark in January. There are more than 425,000 paid and free apps available on Apple's App Store, and more than 100,000 were made specifically for the iPad tablet. They range from the useful to the quirky, from games to productivity tools to magazines, social networks and children's storybooks.

Apple said more than 200 million of its iOS devices -- that is, the iPhone, IPad and iPod Touch -- have been sold around the world to people in 90 countries.

Shares of the Cupertino, Calif., based company climbed $5.92, or 1.7 percent, to $357.68 in afternoon trading Thursday.