More than 100,000 iPhone apps have been approved by Apple, according to figures on third-party metrics site AppShopper.

Specifically, at the time of writing it lists 101,561 approved apps, although only 92,872 of them are currently available on Apple's store.

For a comparison, rival analytics site Mobclix currently lists 103,295 iPhone apps as having been released in the last year.

Whichever figure you take, it's a significant milestone, although one that is double-sided for mobile entertainment firms.

100,000 apps shows the phenomenal interest in creating applications for Apple's platform. However, the obvious downside is that it means 100,000 competitors (sort of) for any new app launching on iPhone.

Apple has yet to publicly trumpet the milestone, but its official announcements tend to happen a while after sites like AppShopper and Mobclix reveal such stats.