Apple announced on Monday that the App Store has surpassed 40 billion downloads. That’s unique downloads excluding re-downloads and updates. Nearly half of that came in last year alone. The company also says it has over 500 million active users, and surpassed over 2 billion downloads during the month of December.

There are over 775,000 apps available in the store, for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices. Apple says it has paid the developers of those apps over $7 billion.

“It has been an incredible year for the iOS developer community,” said Apple SVP of Internet Software and Services, Eddy Cue. “Developers have made over seven billion dollars on the App Store, and we continue to invest in providing them with the best ecosystem so they can create the most innovative apps in the world.”

The company shared some words from some of the app developers. For example, Keith Shepherd, co-founder of Imangi Studios, said, “The success of our game Temple Run in 2012 was nothing short of astonishing. We were simply looking to create a game that was fun and easy to play, but once it hit the App Store, the game took off. This past year, we saw more than 75 million downloads of Temple Run on iOS.”

Things have been pretty good for Autodesk as well. VP of Consumer Products with the company, Samir Hanna, said, “Our success on iOS has been incredible. We set off with the modest goal of bringing SketchBook to iPhone users as a way of introducing them to Autodesk. Fast forward three years, we now offer 20 apps to iOS users that have achieved more than 50 million downloads, and we continue to roll out new creativity and design tools that appeal to both professionals and consumers.”

Filmmaker JJ Abrams, who co-founded Bad Robot, said, “The App Store provided us with opportunities beyond our wildest dreams. Our app Action Movie FX was designed to bring Hollywood special effects to anyone’s self-made video, whether that be on an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, and we’re just thrilled that millions of fans around the world were as excited as we were about the possibilities that this app brings.”

The App Store has users in 155 countries. As tablet popularity continues to grow (there were reportedly more tablet activations on Christmas than smartphone activations), there is going to be a need for more tablet-specific apps. Apple says it has over 300,000 native iPad apps available in the app store.