Insta-growth: Instagram for Android hits 5M downloads in 6 days

The good news for photo-sharing app Instagram keeps on coming. Just a day after Facebook announced that it would acquire Instagram for $1 billion cash and stock, Instagram’s new Android app has attracted 5 million downloads in just six days.

Unless you were stranded in the ocean by a 3D iceberg yesterday, you likely heard that Instagram was bought by Facebook only days after launching an Android app and reportedly closing a $50 million second round of funding. Facebook, spurred by a high level of mobile risk, likely sees Instagram as another way it can put its stamp on iOS and Android.

“This is an important milestone for Facebook because it’s the first time we’ve ever acquired a product and company with so many users,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote yesterday. “We don’t plan on doing many more of these, if any at all. But providing the best photo sharing experience is one reason why so many people love Facebook and we knew it would be worth bringing these two companies together.”

Instagram’s successful launch of Android, which had 1 million downloads in 24 hours, likely helped push Facebook to close the deal. Now Facebook will look even smarter because Instagram on Android’s 5 million downloads in 6 days is one of the most successful launches ever on Android. By comparison, the iOS version of the app took around six months to hit the same number.

Our own Jolie O’Dell made the case yesterday that Instagram needed to successfully move to Android for Facebook to acquire it. The argument makes a lot of sense because Facebook wants to be available to everyone everywhere. To pull the trigger on a $1 billion application buy, that app better be on the two most-popular mobile app platforms, in line with Facebook’s multi-platform strategy.