15 years ago, on July 10, 2008, Apple launched the App Store, marking one of the most important milestones in the history of the iPhone and arguably the smartphone era as well. Before the introduction of the App Store, the iPhone might have been groundbreaking in terms of design and user interface, but it wasn’t nearly as powerful as later. Unleashing the creativity of third-party developers was arguably the key to unlocking the iPhone’s full potential.
While Steve Jobs was initially reportedly opposed to third-party apps on the iPhone, Apple quickly came up with the idea and by early 2009 the company had fully embraced the app economy as an integral part of the iPhone experience. “There’s an app for that” even became the slogan of a famous iPhone commercial. Over the last 15 years, apps have fundamentally changed the way we communicate, play games, date, listen to music and do countless other things while creating a huge opportunity for independent developers around the world.
According to a study commissioned by Apple, users have downloaded apps more than 370 billion times over the past 15 years, while developers have earned more than $320 billion since its launch on the App Store. However, when you factor in all the things people are buying, booking, or ordering through apps these days, the app store economy is even bigger. According to the Analysis Group, Apple’s App Store enabled more than $1.1 trillion in billing and sales last year, more than doubling from 2019 when the total was estimated at $519 billion.
As the chart below shows, the lion’s share of this total comes from sales of physical goods and services within iOS apps, which accounted for 81 percent of total App Store enabled sales and billings last year. General retail was by far the largest segment in this category as more consumers shop on their mobile devices and brands and retailers can no longer afford to be without their own apps.
Given the key role third-party apps played in the iPhone’s success, it’s no surprise that Apple has already released a developer kit for its new Reality Pro headset. With the device not launching until sometime next year, Apple is clearly looking to the creativity of app developers to come up with clever ways to leverage the headset’s features.
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