Google Play has a reason to celebrate today, as the store for apps and media surpassed the 25 billion downloads mark, and is sharing the happiness with users by offering popular Android applications at a steep discount.

Less than four years after its launch, Google Play achieved the milestone in 1,435 days -- almost matching Apple's App Store, which reached 25 billion downloads in 1,334 days back in March.

Clearly transforming into one of the most popular places for downloading software, Google Play currently houses 675,000 apps. While Apple still boasts the largest selection of mobile content with 700,000 titles in the App Store, Google Play isn't that far behind.

Spreading the Joy

To mark the occasion, Google is selling a number of apps and games at just $0.25 over the next five days. Starting later today, users will be able to purchase titles from Gameloft, Electronic Arts, Rovio, runtastic, and Full Fat on the cheap, while the company is also dropping the price on collections like 25 must-own movies, 25 banned books, and 25 albums that changed the world.

"Twenty-five billion is more than twice the distance, in miles, that the Voyager 1 spacecraft has travelled since its launch 35 years ago. It's the amount of time, in minutes, that have passed since some of our earliest ancestors began to set foot in Europe. And now, thanks to all of you, it's a Google Play milestone. We look forward to the next 25 billion," said Google Director of Digital Content Jamie Rosenberg in a blog post.