For those readers who have been following the mobile and tablet industry news over the last 24 hours, you already know the significance of the number 50B. That’s the official tally of apps which have been downloaded from the Apple App Store since its opening five years ago.

Just 18 months ago, that number stood at just 18B, impressive at the time, but only a modest 36% of the Wednesday’s record-setting total. In one of our first blog posts, “18 Billion Apps. That’s a Big Number” we shared our thoughts on this, marveling on the quick uptake of the app market in such a short time.

(Don’t worry if you didn’t read this post — you can now. Go ahead. We’ll wait.)

Great, thanks for coming back.

That lucky App store customer, the downloader of the 50 billionth app, was one Brandon Ashmore of Mentor, OH. He’s now the proud owner of a $10,000 iTunes gift card, the leader of a tribe of 50 other winners of ‘additional prizes’ valued at $500. (Congratulations Mr. Ashmore. Use your power wisely.)

We’re pleased that our app development team had a part to play in the amassing of this total. Between yoga practitioners, clean air advocates, indie film buffs, friends looking to meet friends and short film-o-philes, we’re proud to have added to this multi-billion tally.

But like Apple and its millions of fans, we’re not going to stop there. We’ve got new projects in the pipeline and more ideas dropping in impromptu brainstorming sessions every week. Every one of them may not be officially published in the store, but we like to keep our app development minds focused and sharp.

A couple impressive facts which bear noting: The first 18B apps too over 3 years to download. The next 32B apps, however, only took 18 months. At this rate, we’re likely to see 100B by 2016. And at the rate that iPhones and iPads continue to sell, that day may be here even sooner.

Yet for all the good press heaped upon Apple this week, we shouldn’t ignore that the fact that there are other, competing platforms in the marketplace…and they’re doing pretty well at catching up to Apple. According to the LA Times, the number of app downloads from the Google Play store have also nearly approached this same number.

But Apple’s celebration may be short-lived. The search giant on Wednesday announced that its own digital store, Google Play, was only about 1 billion downloads behind Apple and was close to hitting the 50 billion app downloads mark.

So actually, if you count ALL the apps in play in the mobile and tablet marketplace, we’re already well beyond 100B apps downloaded, used, updated and improved.

With apologies to Everett Dirksen, ”A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon, you’re talking…a real app revolution.”

The future sure is great to live in.

We went silent there for a couple months while Giant Interactive went through a growth spurt, but now we’re settling into a steady rhythm and ready to pick up where we left off.

But where, indeed, did we leave off?

These are proving to be interesting times. The entertainment industry continues to undergo significant shifts, particularly in distribution, consumption and marketing. While consumer spending levels have finally taken a turn for the better, and ended 2012 improved from a year ago, certain segments of the business are still struggling to adapt to the new economic realities.

Home Media Magazine’s Weekly Disc Sales Revenue Chart

My favorite standard reference for the health of the DVD/Blu-ray business, the Home Media Magazine weekly Total Disc Sales Revenue chart, shows that the Blu-ray business continues to grow, while on the flip side of the coin, the DVD business continues to take a beating. Consumers just aren’t buying discs as a method of content enjoyment as the way they once did.

Yet while the disc business is mixed, digital downloads and VOD continue to grow.

“People do still purchase and rent physical DVDs and Blu-ray Discs, but streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu continue to gain traction as a convenient alternative, accessible through a variety of devices,” noted a recent report from Nielsen. “32% more of consumers surveyed said they preferred streaming a rental movie in the past six months of 2012 compared with 2011, while 29% more opted for transactional VOD for TV shows. According to Nielsen, 12% more preferred using Netflix to watch movies, while 24% upped use of a subscription video-on-demand service to watch TV programs.”

Engaging a focus group of four – my wife, my two children and myself –  I note that between Netflix, Hulu, FlixFling and Amazon, my household is now much more likely to be streaming our entertainment than we were just twelve months ago. Between these services, which are aggressively seeking to acquire more, different and exclusive content (as reported here and here), there’s plenty to occupy my leisure time.

This shift in consumer habits is problematic to companies at every stage of the home entertainment life cycle. Content providers, technology partners (like Giant) and other players in the entertainment pipeline are all trying to adapt to a different marketplace than that which existed just 5 years ago, changing business plans, making strategic moves, acquiring new talent and expertise…

At a recent salon hosted by the Entertainment Merchant’s Association in New York, we listened and contributed to a fluid and candid conversation about how to navigate these new waters.

There don’t seem to be easy answers. Thinking ‘out of the box’ appears to be the order of the day. For example, a representative from Cinedigm noted that they’d begun a promotional partnership with BitTorrent. While BitTorrent is perhaps better known for illegal fire sharing, the folks at Cinedigm see an opportunity there to connect with a different audience than they’ve traditionally engaged (perhaps along with the chance to foil some of that same illicit file sharing). Studios are exploring how to incorporate mobile devices into their distribution strategies, providing added value to fans everywhere. At Giant, we’ve made a strategic move into digital marketing with the addition of the Backward Heroes team and ramped up our capabilities to service digital and VOD platforms, welcoming Nima Ourmazdi, our new Director of Digital Platform Initiatives.

As the entertainment marketplace continues to evolve, you can bet that, as they say, there’ll be no constant but change. Yet in our experience, this needn’t be all bad. The changing mediascape has brought the ‘old’ Giant Interactive together with a talented group who are savvy in many of these emerging areas.  Our new, larger team is better for the change, more capable and more experienced. I’m willing to bet that the industry as a whole will be better for these changes too.

Check back. We’ll be exploring the events, trends and innovations that are of interest to us and our business. We hope you’ll join us for the ride.

Producer/Director David Naylor gets a little quality time with Drew Brees.

Masi Oka, who plays Dr. Max Bergman, was on hand too.

Seems like David and his crew had fun. Hopefully David brought back some autographs and souvenirs. Look for the results on an upcoming Hawaii Five-O disc. Look for it under BONUS!

Created for Renderyard Film Network, this short film festival delivers the best in short subjects to an international audience. Check it out here.

From the iTunes Description: Renderyard is an International Film Festival, a Film Social Network and a well established digital platform providing Filmakers, Animators, Music Video Artists, Documentary Makers, Producers and Musicians the chance to distribute, watch and upload independent films from around the world.

Convenience and superior selection may help Netflix hold off competitors...for now.

followed the company’s evolution from DVD distributor to VOD leader and for this entire period, Netflix has had the privilege of being the name mentioned first and most often when conversations about the burgeoning VOD market occur and articles are written about the changing face of home entertainment.

Yet while Netflix still retains the coveted position of the market leader, some analysts are starting to wonder whether CEO Reed Hastings and company can retain the top seat:

Witness the note issued last week by Jon C. Ogg of Janney Capital. He raised his rating from “neutral” to “buy,” with a price target of $129, based largely on this conclusion: “Competition has not yet materialized to the extent that it poses significant near-term risk.” Once past the “near term,” however, things look a little different. HBO recently struck a deal with Universal Pictures that will make it—and its streaming service HBO Go—the exclusive outlet for those movies for the next 10 years. HBO also has similar deals with other studios including Fox (NWS) and Warner Bros (TWX).

“Once past the “near term,” however, things look a little different.” That sounds ominous.

Back in 2011, during the Quikster debacle, I joined many who wondered whether Netflix could survive this significant misstep in the face of growing competition. Yet Reed Hastings has managed to put off a recovery and continued to dominate the market with what is arguably the best selection of content available in the marketplace. (Note I’m not claiming they have an exhaustive content selection. There ARE too many other competitors in the marketplace for Netflix to make this claim and even I’ve added Amazon and Hulu to my VOD choices in order to access content Netflix doesn’t offer.) Yet Netflix is very nearly the ‘default’ choice when it comes to VOD streaming.

Netflix’s subscription video-on-demand service in the fourth quarter was a popular attraction among households with televisions connected to the Internet. About 40% of households with a connected TV streamed Netflix content during the period — a percentage that topped 50% among consumers age 18 to 24, according to new data from The NPD Group.

My advice back in February 2011 was that Netflix should continue to broaden the streaming choices, mend fences with the studios, provide service and selection and most importantly remember who their customers are. It seems like they’ve accomplished three out of four.

While a myriad of choices exist for the tech-savvy consumer, I have a feeling that Netflix’s core audience will value convenience more than anything else. I initially signed up to avoid having the darken the door of another poorly stocked video store, staffed by the uninformed and disinterested. My Netflix queue stands at over 100 titles, despite several ruthless purges.

Yet the kernel of truth in the analysts warnings can be seen in the streaming habits in my living room too. I’ve been using Hulu to catch up on Community (and enjoying it tremendously, I might add) and my wife’s been diving into some of the Hulu exclusive series such as Endgame.

It think it’s too early to write off Netflix, certainly for the near term. If Netflix can successfully mend fences with the studios, avoiding, at least, a shut-out of current content, then I think there will be a healthy life ahead.

Unfortunately for the leader of any pack, whether runners in a marathon or crabs in a bucket, there are always plenty of competitors looking to pass you (well, except for this guy).

Slow and steady, Netflix. I’m with you.

Edit: Spelling corrections, including “Reed” Hastings.