Did anyone think that Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) would ever count 1.5 billion downloads of applications from its iPhone/iPod App Store? In a little over two years, the iPhone has become a worldwide mobile phenomenon, with three versions so far (the original, the 3G model and now the 3GS). In a little over a year, the App Store that carries 65,000 downloadable programs (give or take) has seen 1.5 billion program downloads.

What Apple has created is yet another ecosystem of products and services that mesh so well together that it can't help but be successful. Just like the iPod/iTunes universe that locked customers into a world where the hardware and software worked flawlessly, so does the iPhone/App Store combination. The competition has launched download stores as well, and even Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) has seen some slight success with its BlackBerry App World.

With most Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone App Store applications gathering dust after a very short period of time, one has to wonder if the ultimate application store for the iPhone is all what it's cracked up to be. If most of the applications have very limited usefulness (one the novelty wears off), is the iPhone more than just an expensive applications platform with a mobile phone attached?

After getting overloaded with economic bailout reading over the weekend, something techie floated to the top of the pile that caught my attention. It seems that Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is rejecting quite a few submissions to its App Store, where aspiring iPhone application developers send their programs so that iPhone customers can buy them.

The only problem is that Apple is not telling rejected (and dejected) application developers why their programs are not being approved. Also, the non-disclosure agreement the company is sending out prevents these developers from talking about their rejected iPhone app situations. Is this Apple being its usual self: controlling, closed and mum? The company really (really) knows how to design something the consumer wants and markets its sleek goods in a way other companies just can't figure out. But in addition to that, it retains a tight control on the entire ecosystem in which its products exist.

Perhaps it's the best form of quality control -- but it's not freedom. And developers want freedom, or, at the least, communication. Apple seems to be extremely tight-lipped, which is odd but not surprising.

On another Apple-control-freak note, Apple is now restricting reviews of iPhone Apps to people who have paid for them. It seems that the Wisdom of Crowds argument, which says that putting people in control leads to wisdom, isn't working here. Of course, there is also the vocal minority which can't be pleased by anything and trashes everything that doesn't fit a preconceived notion. Apple is turning on the quiet switch in this situation as well. So here's my proposal for a new motto: Apple: Think Different (but don't communicate it).