There was a lot of specualtion at the beginning of 2009 as to what the billionth iPhone app download from the iTunes App Store would be. With the launch of the App Store in the summer of 2008, Apple and the rest of us really had no idea that we would be talking about a billion iPhone apps served even in the first half of 2009.

Surprise, world! Apple has announce that the one billionth iPhone app download happened on Thursday, April 23rd. The lucky app is called “Bump” and it is had only been listed in the iTunes App Store for about a month. Bump is a social networking application from Bump Technologies, and basically works by “Bumping” two iPhones together to exchange contact information. Bump is a free app download but the developers are planning a premium version soon that they will charge for.

The lucky customer who actually downloaded the one billionth iPhone app is a 13 year old kid who wins a pile of prizes from Apple including a ,000 iTunes gift card, an iPod Touch, a MacBook Pro and a special Time Capsule.

The big buzz will be about the billionth iPhone app download, but the real news is that Apple was able to reach this benchmark so fast. This leads to some questions about coming so far so fast. One issue to consider is overpopulation of the App Store – how many apps can the App Store hold without getting clogged up? One rumored possibility has Apple dividing the App Store into more sections than just free and paid, adding a department for premium apps that cost over or for example.

Congratulations to both the developer  and  downloader of the App Store’s one billionth application.  How long do you think it will take to reach two billion?