Want Some Fries With That iPhone App?

Despite the fact that this will seriously date me, there must be someone reading who will remember how McDonald's initially publicized the number of burgers sold daily via a huge display under its Golden Arches way, way back in the day.

I refuse to reveal the numbers I recall as a kid whose parents treated me to a visit to the first fast food franchise to hit our neck of the woods about 40 years ago. For those history buffs, here's some interesting trivia: the very first McDonald's opened in 1940 and McDonald's next owner, and hamburger drive-thru evangelist, Ray Kroc, opened his first franchise in 1954. According to Wikipedia, a billion hamburgers had been sold by McDonald's by 1963. Some unofficial reports claim the fast-food conglomerate will sell over 100 billion burgers this year.

OK, so what does this have to do with technology, you're wondering? Well, just think Apple instead of burgers.

The iPod and iPhone maker hit a huge landmark this week announcing that its App Store had hit the 2 billion download mark. And about a half a billion of those were downloaded just in the third quarter of this year, according to a press statement.

"The App Store has reinvented what you can do with a mobile handheld device, and our users are clearly loving it," the release quoted CEO Steve Jobs on the news.

Yes, 2 billion software applications have been bought or grabbed for free from the online storefront that offers 85,000 apps for the iPhone and iPod. (A television commercial I caught recently noted that about 75,000 are for the iPhone at this point, though there is nothing official on the device apps breakdown on Apple's press site).

But Apple does report there are 50 million iPhone and iPod Touch users and 125,000 software developers participating in Apple's developer program.

That's pretty darn amazing given the first iPhone only arrived two years ago in June 2007. This past June, Apple announced it had sold 1 million of its newest iPhone, the 3GS model, just three days after its official debut.

So yes, I guess I see Steve Jobs as the Ray Kroc of smartphones, and I think a countdown clicker on the App Store would be a neat little marketing gimmick. And, yes, I do want fries with that iPhone, mister.

Photo courtesy of Apple