Google’s I/O developer conference has kicked off within the US, and within the opening keynote, it’s been revealed that over 48 billion apps were downloaded on Android.

2.5bn of these came in only the last two months, meaning it’s set to hit the 50bn milestone very shortly, though not really before iOS, that’s currently on 49.988bn downloads consistent with its countdown.

Android itself, meanwhile, has seen 900m activations, a rise of 500m increase since last year, and 100m before that – that’s some serious momentum for the OS.

Expect many more announcements from I/O over the subsequent couple of days – Google is rumoured by unveiling a Spotify-style music streaming service, Android version 4.3, and an updated version of Google Maps, introducing flight directions.