---
title: "The internet in 2008"
description: "The App Store opens, and software starts being something you tap once to get. 172,338,726 websites, 7 Mbps at home, and what a download actually took."
url: https://atoneplace.net/internet-in/2008/
site: "At One Place"
---

# The internet in 2008

**The internet in 2008: The App Store opens, and software starts being something you tap once to get.**

172,338,726 hostnames · Broadband at 5 to 10 Mbps. 3G becoming usable.

The App Store took an installation process that had involved finding a website, downloading a file, trusting it and running an installer, and reduced it to one tap and a password. Chrome arrived with a comic book explaining its architecture and the then-unusual idea of running each tab in its own process, which meant one bad page no longer took down the browser. Spotify launched in Europe with the argument that convenience beats free, which turned out to be right.

## The numbers

- **Websites:** 172,338,726 hostnames responding to HTTP
- **Typical connection:** 7 Mbps — Broadband at 5 to 10 Mbps. 3G becoming usable.
- **A gigabyte of storage cost:** $0.20, in 2008 dollars

## How long things took to download

*Assuming the connection ran at its rated speed throughout, which it did not. Real dial-up throughput after protocol overhead was typically 10 to 20 per cent below the modem's rating.*

| What | At 7 Mbps |
| --- | --- |
| A 3 MB song | 4 seconds |
| A 5 MB photo | 6 seconds |
| A 700 MB CD image | 14 minutes |
| A 4 GB film | 1 hours 20 minutes |
| A 50 GB game | 16 hours 39 minutes |

## What arrived in 2008

- The App Store, in July
- Android, on the HTC Dream in October
- Google Chrome
- Spotify
- Dropbox

## Against the years around it

| Year | Hostnames | Typical speed | $/GB of storage | A 4 GB film took |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2007 | 121,892,559 | 5 Mbps | $0.30 | 1 hours 52 minutes |
| 2008 | 172,338,726 | 7 Mbps | $0.20 | 1 hours 20 minutes |
| 2010 | 206,956,723 | 10 Mbps | $0.090 | 56 minutes |

Between 2008 and 2020 the typical connection went from 7 Mbps to 100 Mbps, a factor of 14, and a gigabyte of storage fell from $0.20 to $0.020 — a factor of 10. The 4 GB film that took 1 hours 20 minutes takes 6 minutes.

## Common questions

### What was the internet like in 2008?

The App Store opens, and software starts being something you tap once to get. A typical home connection was 7 Mbps, there were about 172,338,726 hostnames responding on the web, and a gigabyte of storage cost $0.20.

### How long did it take to download a film in 2008?

A 4 GB film at 7 Mbps would have taken about 1 hours 20 minutes, assuming the connection held its rated speed the whole way, which it would not have.

### How many websites were there in 2008?

About 172,338,726 hostnames responded to HTTP. That counts hostnames rather than distinct sites, which is why the figure occasionally falls between years without the web shrinking.

## Related pages

- [The internet in 2007](https://atoneplace.net/internet-in/2007/)
- [The internet in 2010](https://atoneplace.net/internet-in/2010/)
- [Every year side by side](https://atoneplace.net/internet-in/)
- [Convert data units](https://atoneplace.net/convert/)

## Sources

- Web Server Survey — Netcraft (https://www.netcraft.com/blog/category/web-server-survey/)
- ICT Facts and Figures / World Telecommunication Indicators — International Telecommunication Union (https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/)
- Historical cost of computer memory and storage — Compiled from contemporaneous retail advertising and manufacturer price lists (/about/)