Apple, Rovio pick up gaming Guinness World Records

Apple’s App Store holds the Guinness World Record for the most popular applicatio market. (EMMANUEL DUNAND - AFP/GETTY IMAGES)


By Hayley Tsukayama

Bragging rights go to Apple and Rovio today as Guinness released its latest version of its world records list for video games.

According to Guinness, Apple’s iPhone 4 is now the fastest-selling handheld game device, with 1.5 million units sold at launch, which the Guinness release compares to the PlayStation Portable’s 200,000 units at launch in 2005.

It doesn’t seem quite right to count the iPhone and the PSP or the DS in the same class of device, however. While the iPhone 4 is undoubtedly a gaming platform and one that’s taking a hefty chunk out of the handheld market, it’s a stretch to say that it sold that many units solely as a gaming platform.

It is clear, however, that Apple is a formidable player in the gaming market: it also picked up the records for the most popular application market, the largest downloadable video game store, and the largest launch lineup of any gaming system.

Rovio’s Angry Birds also got a nod as the “top paid-for app store game in most countries,” as the Apple App Store’s top paid app in 67 countries and more than 6.5 million downloads.