Predicto

One thing that’s been missing at recent Apple events is Steve Jobs’ “Oh, one more thing” wrap-ups. Apple watchers used to expect Jobs to spring a surprise every time he would say those words. And he did. Now that Philip Schiller is the new face of Apple, those lines are no longer heard in any of the product launches.

But Apple has not exactly been without surprises in the past few months. On the iPhone front, the 3GS broke cover and exceeded expectations. The App Store, which sells applications for iPod Touch and iPhone products, also did well for Apple. In fact, it is during the period when Apple experienced Jobs’ absence that the App Store recorded an all-time best of 500 million downloads in three months.

Can the App Store Sustain its Momentum?

One year after its launch, “the largest applications store in the world” recorded a whopping 1.5 billion downloaded applications. The downloaded apps include both free and paid versions, and span a wide array of categories such as games, entertainment, utilities, travel, lifestyle and business, among others. As of this writing, there are 65,000 apps in the store according to Apple’s press press releases.

The number of available apps is expected to increase. Obviously, the demand is there, and Apple is even working on a Premium App Store that will be distinct from the Free and 99 cent categories of the service. But will the demand continue its steady trend now that Apple competitors are making some serious headway with their own apps stores?

Nokia, the phone manufacturer with the biggest share in the mobile phone industry, has launched Ovi. The service appears to be patterned after the Apple App Store and is designed for Nokia smart phones such as the N Series. The store’s inventory does not come close to the number of apps for the iPhone just yet, but the huge product base of Nokia can multiply Ovi’s offerings in a short time and throw a challenge at Apple.

Other competitors include BlackBerry’s Research in Motion, Google Phone’s Android Market and Palm Pre’s App Catalog. The smart phone manufacturers have given access to their Software Development Kit for developers, like what Apple did prior to the success of the App Store.

Steve Jobs Is Back

Despite the mounting challenge, however, most members of the Predicto mobile community are confident that the App Store will breach the 2 billion mark in October. “CrimsonDawn” says the target is “reasonable, taking into account the iPhones they sold.” Currently, there are 40 million iPhone and iPod Touch users who are feeding the App Store growth.

”Userbjuq0048”, on the other hand, says “we all use our phones for things other than calls and texts” and believes that the store will achieve its 2 billionth download three months from now. Also, the return of Steve Jobs from a medical leave is seen as likely to add steam to the continued success of the App Store.

“Steve is back to work,” Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said to Bloomberg News. “We are very glad to have him back.” Jobs is reportedly reporting for work at the Cupertino office of Apple for a few days a week and working from home the rest of the time.

If his company fared well in spite of his absence, then there is no doubt as to the good Jobs can do once he takes the reins of Apple once again. That appears to be the sentiment of the Predicto community, as they voted a decisive 17 percent for no and 83 percent for yes in the Apple App Store poll. You can join the discussion here and cast your vote.