Samsung has announced that its own Apps Store has passed the 100 million application download mark since its service began with the Samsung Wave smartphone in June 2010.

Samsung Apps has grown at a rapid pace since launch; reaching 10 million downloads in its first three months, which skyrocketed to 100 million downloads in March, just ten months after the store opened, according to cellular-news.

Over 13,000 applications are now available from the marketplace - a six-fold increase since the store's first day.

The most downloaded apps on the platform include Magic Torch, Need for Speed Shift and Asphalt 5. Transportation and navigation apps - such as London Traffic and Ndrive France - are also popular downloads. The most popular apps also reflect cultural characteristics; recipe and wine apps are popular in France, Germans love football related apps and Italians are fans of film information apps.

France had the highest number of downloads, followed by Germany and Spain. These three countries accounted for 40% of all downloads made from the store.

"We are anticipating that Samsung Apps will show a rapid growth in 2011, especially with a variety of the upcoming Bada device line-up" said Kang-Hyun Kwon, Senior Vice President of Media Solution Center, Samsung Electronics. "Through consistent service improvement and high-quality app selections, we will continue to offer optimized application services for Samsung smartphones."