Apple Chief Says iPhone Software Sales Take Off

(Reuters) – In the month since Apple Inc (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)opened the App Store, an online software clearinghouse, users havedownloaded more than 60 million programs for the iPhone, ChiefExecutive Steve Jobs told The Wall Street Journal in an interview.

Apple sold an average of $1 million a day in applications for atotal of about $30 million in sales over the month, Jobs told the paper.

If sales stay at the current pace, Apple stands to earn at least$360 million a year in new revenue from the App Store, Jobs said.

"This thing’s going to crest a half a billion, soon," Jobs told thejournal adding that it may be a "$1 billion marketplace at some pointin time."

Jobs told the paper that Apple is keeping only 30 percent of theproceeds from application sales while the programs’ creators keep 70percent.

However, Jobs believes that applications will sell more iPhones andwireless-enabled iPod touch devices, enhancing the appeal of theproducts in the same way.

Jobs confirmed that iPhones routinely check an Apple Web site thatcould, in theory, trigger the removal of the undesirable software fromthe devices.

He told the paper that Apple needed the capability in case itinadvertently allowed a malicious program to be distributed to iPhonesthrough the App Store.

Apple could not be immediately reached for comment.(Reporting by Ajay Kamalakaran in Bangalore)