Apple's App Store launches the app economy
- Date
- 10 July 2008
- Category
- Economy & trade
- Region
- United States
- Era
- Contemporary
- Significance
On 10 July 2008 Apple opened the App Store with around 500 applications, providing a single, curated platform where outside developers could distribute software directly to iPhone users and share in the revenue.
The response was immediate: roughly ten million downloads occurred in the first three days, and the catalogue expanded rapidly. By centralising discovery, payment and distribution, the App Store solved the long-standing difficulty of selling mobile software and created a vast new market. Google launched its competing Android Market, later Google Play, the same year, and together these stores gave rise to a global 'app economy' worth hundreds of billions of dollars and supporting millions of developers and businesses. Apps reshaped how people hailed taxis, ordered food, navigated cities, banked, dated, played games and consumed media, turning the smartphone into a platform for entire industries. The model also concentrated significant power in the hands of the platform owners, prompting later regulatory and antitrust scrutiny over commissions and control. The App Store's launch marked a decisive step in making the mobile internet a central part of everyday economic and social life worldwide.
One piece of history in your inbox, weekly
New empires, events and features as they land — one good email a week. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Related economy & trade events
- The dot-com bubble burstsMarch 2000
- Amazon launches, pioneering large-scale e-commerce16 July 1995
- The global financial crisis and the collapse of Lehman Brothers15 September 2008
- China's Reform and Opening-Up Begins Under Deng XiaopingDecember 18, 1978
- M-Pesa launches mobile money in KenyaMarch 2007 (launched 2007)
- China becomes the world's second-largest economy2010
Further reading
The wider story
The Silk Roads: A New History of the World
Best-selling world history told through the trade routes that moved goods, faiths and ideas.
Get it on Amazon →As an Amazon Associate, Human Saga earns from qualifying purchases.