Apple's App Store

10/07/2008

Apple launched App Store, a digital distribution platform for mobile apps on iOS, developed and maintained by Apple. The service allows users to browse and download apps developed with Apple's iOS SDK. The apps can be downloaded directly to iOS devices.

The concept of App Store goes back to the 1990s and in 2003 when Apple launched iTunes Music Store. At first, the App Store was opened to iPhones via an update to iTunes. This allowed Apple to control the quality of apps for the first time.

The App Store is a huge success, and the attempt was copied by many other competitors when they launch similar services. The term app has become a popular buzzword, and "app store" became adopted by any similar service for mobile devices.