GIN INC JOURNAL

There's no denying that Apple's App Store has been wildly popular amongst iPhone and iPod touch users—"Shaking Baby" applications aside—and that Microsoft, RIM, Palm, Nokia, and others are all looking to emulate Apple's success with application stores of their own. Just to underscore how far they have to catch up, however, Apple has announced that customers have downloaded over 1 billion programs from its App Store since it launched a little over nine months ago.

"The revolutionary App Store has been a phenomenal hit with iPhone and iPod touch users around the world, and we'd like to thank our customers and developers for helping us achieve the astonishing milestone of one billion apps downloaded," said Apple senior VP of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller, in a statement.

The actual downloader of the billionth program was 13-year-old Connor Mulcahey, of Weston, Connecticut: he will receive a MacBook Pro, a Time Capsule backup system, an iPod touch, and a $10,000 iTunes gift card. Apple has previously given out prizes for download milestones from its iTunes music store.

The Apple app store claims to offer more than 35,000 programs in 77 countries, many of which are available for free, with commercial applications tending to run from $1.99 to $9.99, with some exceptions.

Apple is planning to release its iPhone 3.0 operating system this summer, which many industry watchers expect will help solidify the iPhone's strong position in the iPhone market, and may help it further integrate with enterprise and corporate systems, an area where Apple has historically only been a bit player.