Apple celebrates anniversary with free appsI was at Apple headquarters in 2008 when Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone App Store. But as I sat and listened to Jobs describe the new service, I had no idea where it would take us.
At the time there were about 500 iPhone apps, but today - five years later - there are 900,000. There have been more than 50 billion downloads and Apple says that it has paid out more than $10 billion to developers.
But the story of the App Store is more than just numbers. It's fundamentally changed the way software is distributed, obtained and consumed and - probably more than any other event - help usher in the 'post PC era.' It also changed the way developers earn money from software. As Steve Jobs said when he introduced the store, 'we think we've got a great business deal for our developers.' Back then Jobs decreed that the developer picks the price and gets 70% of the revenue without having to pay credit card fees. He also predicted that a lot of apps would be free and pledged that there would be no charge to the developer for free apps.
The App store not only contributed to the success of the iPhone but may have been the main impetuous behind the success of the iPad as well and, of course, competing products whose companies also have their own app stores, like the extremely popular Google Play store for Android. It's even impacted that way Microsoft , Apple and Google distribute PC and web-based software.
The App Store and the nearly a million iOS apps (along with hundreds of thousands of Android apps) has also changed the value proposition of phones and tablets by allowing them to do things that don't make them smaller PCs, but go beyond what PCs could ever do. There are times when I pick up my iPad not because I care about the form factor but because I want to use an App that simply isn't available on a PC or a Mac.
Free apps
To celebrate the anniversary, Apple is giving away some 'top-shelf apps and games,' as Forbes contributor Dave Thier explains.
Watch as Steve Jobs introduces iPhone App store
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