Ondrej Holzman The App Store has been very successful recently and yesterday it could celebrate its third birthday. It was officially launched on July 10, 2008, when Apple also released iPhone OS 2.0 (now branded as iOS 2.0) with it, followed by the iPhone 3G a day later. It already came with iOS 2.0 and the pre-installed App Store.
So it took a year and a half before third-party applications were allowed into the iPhone. However, since the launch in January 2007, there have been calls for these applications, so it was only a matter of time before Apple came up with something like the App Store. However, it is not clear whether Steve Jobs planned third-party applications in the iPhone from the beginning or decided to do so after the fact. Shortly after the introduction of the first iPhone, however, in an interview with the New York Times, he said:
“We define everything in the phone. You don't want your phone to be like a PC. The last thing you want is to have three apps running, then want to make a call and it doesn't work. This is much more iPod than computer.”
At the same time, the App Store has the lion's share of the huge sales success of the iPhone - and not only it, there are also other iOS devices that draw from the App Store. The iPhone took on a new dimension with third-party apps. It started to spread much more and it got into the subconscious of users even in advertisements. One of the most famous is the advertising spot "There's an App for That", which shows that the iPhone has an app for all activities.
Recently passed milestones also testify to the success of the App Store. For example, over 15 billion applications have already been downloaded from this store. There are currently over 500 applications in the App Store, of which 100 are native for the iPad. Three years ago, when the store was launched, only 500 applications were available. Just compare the numbers yourself. The App Store has also become a gold mine for some developers. Apple has already paid them more than two and a half billion dollars.
Source: macstories.net
I take the flash link as a good joke :-)))
proof that Apple never pays to buy the first generation of anything. Osx, ipod, air, iphone and finally probably not even ipad
so I just bought an iPad1 when the iPad2 was almost on the market and I can't download it (I like the design of the unit more than the two).
So this looks almost like a PR, the article should have more depth :(