Firefox 3, the long-awaited update of Mozilla's open source web browser was released earlier today. The download counter, which is projected on a large display screen here at Mozilla headquarters in Mountain View, CA, has been churning numbers at a rapid pace all morning. The display shows that Firefox has now exceeded 1 million downloads, with between 5,000 and 14,000 downloads per minute.

The rapid pace at which the downloads are occurring makes it difficult to compute an exact total. The counter appears to be lagging behind the actual count, and Mozilla's statisticians say that the number could be as high as 3 million just four hours after Firefox's official launch. Users can follow along at home by watching the counter at the official site.

Firefox 3 downloads have already exceeded the total number of downloads that took place in the first 24 hours after the Firefox 2 release. This is a significant milestone for Mozilla, which hopes that Firefox 3 will set the world record for the most software downloaded in a 24-hour period.

The display shows a breakdown by country, which indicates that the highest number of downloads is coming from the United States, followed by Germany and Spain. The US alone has reached over half a million downloads.

The Firefox team is in full celebration mode here at Mozilla headquarters. People are watching the numbers and excitedly discussing plans for Firefox 3.1, the next update. I met up with Mozilla user experience designer Alex Faaborg, who shared some thoughts about potential user interface enhancements for the 3.1 update. He says that privacy improvements, like the private browsing mode feature, are being considered for inclusion.

I also talked to Mozilla mobile director Jay Sullivan, who says that development on Firefox's Fennec project is accelerating now that Firefox 3 is out the door. The big focus now, he says, is on increasing pan and zoom performance.

The Firefox 3 launch has far exceeded the expectations of the Mozilla staff members with whom I have spoken today. There is a strong sense of awe as they watch the climbing numbers validate their accomplishment.