If I had a dollar for every iPhone app downloaded...

...I'd have over a billion dollars

Apple has to be pretty proud of their current position. Over a billion apps downloaded and in their countdown to the billionth app, 5.5 million apps where downloaded daily. For any iPhone owner, apps are just a part of daily life. It's almost a social status to know the 'cool' apps out there and of course a great filler while waiting for a movie to start, filling space before your food arrives, on the train, plane or just sitting on your couch.

In many ways, it's almost expected as an iPhone user that your favorite websites have iPhone apps - myspace, facebook, craigslist just to name a few. And there are so many practical uses. If you want to learn Spanish download 24/7 tutor, or maybe find a move you add Fixster, or before the movie looking for a close by restaurant UrbanSpoon has it all. Regardless if you want to find cheap gas, calculate a tip, need a flashlight, check stocks, take pictures at night, skype or play games - there is an app for that.

So the question that most marketers and companies ask themselves is how do we stay on top and who are the close competitiors. How can we continue to evolve avoiding the fate of the cassette tape or even Geocities that was officially shut down by Yahoo! this month.

I think the big questions that Apple will need to answer is global scalability and flexibility. Right now they beat out Google's Android in terms of users and apps; however, Android is just getting out to market and it's ability to be used globalily on a larger number of devices and providers may change the playing field.