Three months ago, Google claimed that Chromecast users have tapped the cast button about 400 million times, signaling how fast the streaming device has grown in the marketplace. That number is now at 650 million, Google VP of product management Mario Queiroz said at Gigaom’s Structure Connect conference Tuesday.

And it’s not just Chromecast’s popularity with consumers that’s growing. Queiroz also said more than 6,000 developers are building more than 10,000 apps for the Google Cast ecosystem, signaling a rising developer community.

This developer adoption is an important strategy for Google and bleeds over into its new “Backdrop” feature, which lets users customize their TVs with their own pictures. For example, Chromecast will displays images of a variety of subjects on a user’s TV, and a user can query his Android phone or whatever other device he may be using to learn more about that particular image. Queiroz said that Google is looking to release an API that will allow developers to add additional information to Backdrop.

Queiroz wouldn’t say much about what Google is planning for the second iteration of Chromecast. But he did indicate that Google is “building an ecosystem of different endpoints” in which the Chromecast is one endpoint and other “Chromecast devices” are other endpoints.

“I can say we really want to bring the richness of this first screen–second screen experience to life,” said Queiroz. “The hardware capabilities will give us a better opportunity to take full advantage of a large screen paired with a small screen.”

This post was updated at 1:34 to clarify the way Backdrop works.

Photo by Jakub Mosur

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