Outfit7’s talking-animal apps hit 60M downloads on App Store

Angry Birds isn’t the only animal game selling like crazy on the App Store. Outfit7‘s Talking Tom Cat and other titles in the Talking Friends series have been downloaded more than 60 million times in the past six months.

Andrej Nabergoj (pictured right), chief executive of Outfit7, said on a panel I moderated today at the Digital Life Design conference in Munich that his iPhone apps have surpassed the 60 million milestone just weeks after hitting 41 million. By the end of the second quarter, Nabergoj predicts, the number of downloads will surpass 100 million.

There are eight titles in the series so far, where characters such as Talking Tom Cat can take something you say and repeat it via an animated character on the iPhone or Android smartphone screens. With each new title, the series is gaining momentum, helping it close in on Angry Birds, which has sold more 70 million paid downloads on all mobile platforms, according to Peter Vesterbacka of Angry Birds’ publisher, Rovio.

Nabergoj said that the company is generating real revenue from the Talking Friends series, with $200,000 in revenue and 1 million downloads coming in on Christmas Day alone. Talking Tom Cat launched in July, 2010, and has been downloaded more than 35 million times itself. And more than 10 percent of users are actually buying virtual items. The app is free-to-play, where users can start paying for free but can pay real money for virtual goods. Some 18 apps in the series are scheduled for 2011.

Nabergoj said he was surprised at the way kids were using the app, which got a boost recently when it showed up in a cameo on ABC’s hit sitcom Modern Family.

“While observing kids playing with our apps, we realized we were no longer an app developer, but a mobile toy maker,” he said.

About 67 percent of the downloads are from international users.

Disclosure: The Digital Life Design conference paid for my Munich trip to moderate a panel. VentureBeat’s conference coverage is objective and independent.