Yeah, every time I see that stat, it just sounds like a great argument for diff-updates:
http://blog.chromium.org/2009/07/smaller-is-faster-and-safer...
http://blog.chromium.org/2009/07/smaller-is-faster-and-safer...
I can't find a reference, but I think the "one billion" count only counts full downloads; updates installed via "Check for updates" aren't included in the count.