Today, an iPhone or iPod touch user will unknowingly (unless Apple figures out a way to throw up some virtual streamers and confetti) download the 200 millionth applications from the iTunes App Store.

As Apple CEO Steve Jobs was happy to note during yesterdays fourth-quarter earnings call, that's a remarkable achievement. After all, it launched the App Store only 102 days ago, on July 11th. It is, perhaps, even more significant than the 6.89 million iPhones moved during the same period.

Speaking to analysts during the call, Jobs said, “The 200 millionth app! We've never seen anything like this in our careers.”

It took Apple 60 days to hit the 100 million mark but only 42 to double that number of iPhone app downloads.

There are currently more than 5,500 applications in 19 categories for download from the App Store, which is available to iPhone users in 62 countries around the world; the majority of the apps that are for sale go for less than $10, while about 700 of them are free.

Meanwhile, Jobs used the word "incredible” to describe the rate at which developers are submitting new applications for approval.

Perhaps the flood of submissions has been helped along by Apple's dropping the non-disclosure (NDA) agreement for iPhone developers earlier this month; a move that should have also helped foster innovation, by allowing developers to share ideas without fear of recrimination from Apple.