There's an AP for that

Apple announced this morning that the 1 billionth application (1,000,000,000) application was downloaded from the AP store on iTunes this morning. My mix of aps for my iPhone includes about a dozen games but a lot of very useful innovations including two which help me remember where I parked.

The ubiquity of the iPhone seems to build on itself. As more people are using the phone - more APs seem to appear. I re-check the AP store a couple of times a month to see if there is something new. The Update feature also allows me to get all the changes in the APs I own. There have been a few APs that I thought I would use and have discarded but that is the exception not the rule - initially thin APs become more useful as they are upgraded.

Over the last nine months I have noticed three things about the AP store. First, there are tons of free upgrades. So a semi-useful application becomes more useful after its initial release. The development time between versions is a lot quicker than for a normal application for a computer. Second, the inherent social nature of the phone seems to be an increasing part of all applications - so more and more are using locational and social networking technologies to improve the application. Third, the news features of APs are increasingly useful. I use both Bloomberg and the WSJ applications a lot. When I am in a hearing that is boring I will use the time to review both applications and catch up on news.