At a recent press event held by Apple, Steve Jobs proudly announced the App Store has seen over 100 million downloads since launch; 70 million of those were in August alone, suggesting the rate of adoption is currently almost twice that of iTunes' comparable figures during the distribution system's inaugral period.

If the figures continue at this rate – and considering the unstoppable flow of iPhone and iPod touch sales, that's not at all unreasonable – Apple's new gadget could cross the one billion downloads threshold within a year of launch. It took iTunes nearer two years to realise similar figures with song downloads, so the future for the iPod certainly seems to be in software rather than audio.

Apple has yet to broach the one billion downloads subject, perhaps in fear of jinxing it, but we can be sure to hear about it as soon as the target is in sight; which we predict won't be very long at all.