Three phases of IPv6 allocations
Daniel Karrenberg, Chief Scientist at the RIPE NCC, has just published (August 2010) an interesting analysis of RIPE NCC's IPv6 delegations per month (see A Look at IPv6 Allocations Since 1999
). In that analysis, he identifies three distinct phases of IPv6 allocations: experimental (1999-2002), early adopters (2002-2007) and deployment (2007 to now).
So how does APNIC's data on IPv6 allocations compare to the Karrenberg's analysis of RIPE NCC allocations?
IPv6 delegations per year in the APNIC region
As you can see from the graph below, there is a huge spike in IPv6 delegations in 2010. This spike occurred following the implementation of a new IPv6 policy in the region that streamlined the IPv6 request process for APNIC members who had IPv4 addresses from APNIC, and therefore had already been deemed to have a network requiring addresses. The new policy allows these members, if they did not already have an IPv6 block, to request IPv6 with a simple "one click" through MyAPNIC, the APNIC member portal.
Apart from the 2010 spike, there is also a smaller spike in the number of delegations APNIC made in 2002. These were the result of the first IPv6 Address Allocation and Assignment Policy, which was implemented near the end of June 2002. Prior to that, IPv6 was allocated according to the criteria described in the Provisional IPv6 assignment and allocation policy document.
Taken together, these two spikes show that changes in policy really do have an impact on resource distribution. 
Global trends in IPv6 delegations
The total of all five RIR IPv6 delegations per year over the same time also reflect Karrenberg's three phases, as shown below.
It's worth noting that the 2010 figures in the Graphs 1 and 2 only show the number of delegations to the beginning of August. The global trend, therefore, is likely to show a continuation of the steep 2008-2009 increase in delegation numbers by the end of 2010. 
Looking for more information?
These statistics were taken from APNIC's Apstats live statistics portal. If you are interested in drilling down into month by month details for APNIC and global IPv6 statistics, or looking at IPv4 or AS number statistics, please feel free to use the portal.