Just how popular is Angry Birds? Its founder has revealed that the top mobile game has been downloaded more than 42 million times, and more than 25% of those downloads were paid.
Rovio CEO Mikael Hed broke down the numbers in a Q&A with AOL/TechCrunch's MG Siegler. Angry Birds has now reached 12 million paid downloads and 30 million free downloads. The vast majority of paid downloads come from the iPhone, while many of the game's free downloads come from its recently released Android application.
Hed explained that Rovio chose to make its Android app free because Android Marketplace's inconsistencies -- paid apps aren't available in all countries and the rules are different from nation to nation. Still, the company has found a way to monetize its free apps: It makes $1 million per month in advertising alone.