This April Apple announced that over 1 billion applications had been downloaded from their App Store. For twelve short months, that was quite an achievement. But it wasn't good enough for Apple, which is why they've gone out and topped themselves again. Apple is reporting that total App Store downloads have now passed the 2 billion mark. Holy cash cow, Batman!

In just two and a half months the App Store has managed to rake in another half billion downloads, and increase its selection from 65,000 to 85,000. That's a little bit amazing, and it makes me wonder how long the App Store can continue to increase at such a rate. Right now it has both novelty going for it, and the fact that the iPhone is still selling like gangbusters. Eventually, things will have to level off.

The really odd thing to contemplate about the App Store is that it really could just be a flash in the pan. If Google is right, browser-based apps are the future. They're cheaper to develop for, easier to use for many smartphone owners, and they are less resource intensive. Of course, with browser-based apps Apple would lose the control they have over their App Store right now, which is something I don't see happening.