Apple launched its App Store on July 11, 2008. During the first weekend, users had downloaded ten million iPhone applications. Additionally, the Wall Street Journal reported on August 11, 2008, a month after the launch of the iPhone App Store, that Apple had been earning about $1 million a day from the site. Apple CEO Steve Jobs himself called the site a “big hit” and said that in the first thirty days, developers had already made $9 million.
As of September 9, 2008, VentureBeat reported 100 million iPhone app downloads. Will the trend slow down in the short term? Probably not: The iPhone App Store is projected to hit 1 billion downloads sometime in 2009, which means it will hit the 1 billion download mark faster than the iTunes site.
iPhone apps make iPhones a joy
When the iPhone was first revealed, it was undoubtedly a breakthrough in mobile phone technology. But apart from looking good and displaying the photo of the person who was calling you, it didn’t do much good. The iPhone app market has changed all this. In the first few days of the App Store launch, more than 900 new apps were added. Suddenly, the iPhone became a digital playground for its users.
New iPhone apps will change the way we do business
Online banking was viewed with some suspicion when it first appeared on the scene, as bank customers wondered if online banking could really be trusted to pay their bills on time. But gradually, online banking became second nature and almost ubiquitous as all the major banks adopted it. iPhone apps, like the Bank of America iPhone app, may even make online banking obsolete as we slowly but surely start banking from our cell phones.
Retailers are also starting to get in on the iPhone action. The Gap and Target are two of the first retailers to launch their own iPhone apps that allow customers to shop on their iPhones, and dot-coms like Amazon also let iPhone users shop on their phones. Just as online shopping was once considered innovative and rare, but is now a common activity that millions of consumers engage in every day, iPhone apps from retail giants will become more common and “normal.”
The iPhone app is the new music video
Similarly, when MTV started showing music videos in 1980, pundits wondered if they wouldn’t bother to see musicians on their television screens. Twenty-eight years later, generations have grown up in the culture of MTV and expect more from its pop stars. Today’s pop stars don’t just need music videos, they also need a website, a Facebook page, and a MySpace page. Will the next thing pop stars need to stay on trend is an iPhone app?
Nine Inch Nails, Weezer, Moby, The Chemical Brothers and others have already participated in the popular Tap Tap games created by iPhone app developer Tapulous. Meanwhile, Pink and Snow Patrol have their own iPhone apps. These artists could become the trendsetters as more and more stars rush to get a piece of the iPhone app pie.
success will only grow
The beauty of capitalism is the innovation it inspires. As companies gradually try to outdo each other in the new frontier of iPhone apps, the consumer will benefit. The amazing success of the iPhone app store means that we will see more and more iPhone apps with ever more innovative features as consumers demand more and businesses try to meet these demands. Step aside, ‘world wide web’ here comes the iPhone app.