Apple has set a counter off running on its homepage as the iPhone prepares for its billionth application download.

At the time or writing there are around 48 million downloads to go, and although that sounds like a long final stretch, the rate at which the figure is increasing suggests it won’t be long until this phenomenal target is reached.

To celebrate, Apple is gearing up to give a variety of prizes away, with the competition ending when the counter hits a billion.

It’s also revealed the top 20 free and paid applications of all time, with Vivendi Games Mobile’s Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D coming out on top (put together by the team now comprising French iPhone developer Bulkpix, we might add), while the Facebook application takes the lead in the free downloads.