Carriers Prepping 'iPhone TV,' App Store Countdown Ending April 23

Apple's iPhone is all over the news (not that it's any surprise), the main reason being its ability to run thousands of different applications, which users can take advantage of through the Multi-Touch interface and accelerometer-based controls.

These technologies also allow for services such as TV-on-the-go, with Orange and Vodafone preparing to bring streaming TV services to iPhone users in France and Portugal. Orange will be dubbing its service “TV from Orange” (very original, may we add), while Portugal's Vodafone will be calling its service (just as inspiring) “Vodafone Mobile TV.”

Quite noteworthy is the fact that Vodafone Mobile TV, currently being developed by WIT Software, may be released in other countries as well, should the company's efforts prove worthwhile.

In other iPhone-related news, Apple has recently posted a countdown timer on its website, announcing that it is about to hit a whopping one billion App Store downloads. According to an IntoMobile report, analysts are now suggesting the milestone is to be reached the day after tomorrow – April 23, Thursday– with 5.1 million apps being downloaded daily.

A few points of interest are also noted in the report, such as how many downloaded titles are actually paid apps, and how many of the iPhone users downloading software off the App Store actually know what they are doing.

Naturally, most people downloading apps from the App Store do know what they are doing, since 75 percent of the downloads are estimated as being free apps. However, a survey of 1,000 UK consumers revealed that only 24.2% of the respondents knew what the App Store was, with awareness higher among males (35.1%) than among females (14.5%). Not surprisingly, 52% of the respondents aged between 18-24 years knew about the App Store and what it did, as did 45.1% of 25-34 year olds, 30% of 35-44 year olds and 18% of 45-54 year olds, IntoMobile reports. Remember, this is just the UK.