Smartphone number of the day: Billions and billions served

iPhone users have downloaded about as many apps as McDonald's has sold hamburgers. In fact, Apple has just announced the 10 billionth app download!

[Pause for celebrations]

That 10 billion number will soon become irrelevant. Not because we will so quickly surpass it, but because there will be so many apps sold, created, downloaded, in use, that it will be pointless to even have a count. On the occasion of Apple's 10 billionth iPhone, I won't write here, as I have so many times before, about the grand new app economy, the democratization of software development, the simple iPhone app as driver for Mac sales growth leading to the sale of Macs equalling 25% of the total sales of "personal computers" (non tablets) by early 2013.  (Which is a big fucking deal, by the way.) I won't even write, again, about how often I've reminded you, even a year and two years ago when "experts" were talking about the app as fad, that the app is here to stay.

No, on this momentous occasion I will only remind you of the one thing you need to know re apps:

apps are the *primary* means of accessing your smartphone -- not the mobile web -- but your smartphone and all its features, functions, services, capabilities and hardware for the foreseeable future

Given that we will have 2 billion smartphones in use in the foreseeable future, and given that most of those in use will be used everyday, everywhere, all day long by their users, you can begin to see the incredible, fundamental power of the app and how it is transforming how we interact, use, manipulate, leverage and benefit from computing resources.

You cannot underestimate the power and influence of the app. Anyone who does, no matter what their background, title or "expertise" is dead wrong. So wrong, in fact, that you should question everything else they say about smartphones.