App Store

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App Store

The App Store is an application for the iPhone and iPod Touch created by Apple Inc., which allows users to browse and download applications, from the iTunes Store, that were developed with the iPhone SDK and published through Apple. They are available to purchase or free of charge, depending on the application. The applications are downloaded directly to iPhone or iPod Touch. The App Store is also available within iTunes. Whilst Apple has stated that they do not expect to profit from the store, it has been predicted by Piper Jaffray that the App Store could create a profitable marketplace with revenue exceeding US$1 billion annually for the company. Apple offers 70 percent of revenues from the store to instantly go to the seller of the app, and 30 percent go to Apple.^[1] The App Store opened early in the morning on July 10, 2008 via an update to iTunes. Applications were immediately available for download at that time. However, iPhone and iPod Touch software version 2.0 was not yet available through Software Update, making the applications unusable. The iPhone software version 2.0 was released on July 11, 2008, and applications were able to be transferred onto the newly updated devices. As of September 18, 2008, there are 3,465 third-party applications officially available for the iPhone and iPod Touch on the App Store.

How applications are built: The SDK
Number of launched applications
Controversies
References
External links

How applications are built: The SDK

The Software Development Kit for iPhone and iPod Touch was announced at the iPhone Software Roadmap event on March 6, 2008. The SDK allows developers (running Mac OS X 10.5.4 or higher on an Intel Mac) to create applications using Xcode that will natively run on the iPhone and iPod Touch. A Beta version was released after the event and a final version was released in July 2008 alongside the iPhone 3G. Applications that developers create can be sold exclusively through the iTunes Store on Mac and Windows or on the App Store on the iPhone and iPod Touch or through "Enterprise" institutional distribution.^[2] For those developers which publish their applications on the App Store, they will receive 70 percent of sales revenue and will not have to pay any distribution costs for their application other than a US$99 fee to use the SDK on the iPhone and upload applications to the store.

To run applications on the iPhone, the application needs to be signed with a certificate assigned by Apple after the developer has developed the software through either the US$99/year or US$299/year developer package and official iPhone SDK.

Number of launched applications

On July 10, 2008, Apple CEO Steve Jobs told USA Today that the App Store contains 500 third-party applications for the iPhone and the iPod Touch, 125 of which are free downloads. These third party applications range from business to game applications, entertainment to educational applications, and many more applications available for free or for sale. As of July 11, 2008, users may buy applications from the App Store, and transfer them to an iPod Touch or iPhone with the iPhone 2.0 software update, which became available through iTunes on the same day. 10 million applications were downloaded the first weekend.^[3]

Controversies

Applications are subject to approval by Apple, as outlined in the SDK agreement, for basic reliability testing and other analysis. The rejection of applications has been subject to much discussion in the press. A particular example, documented in the agreement itself, is that applications must not duplicate the functions of the iPhone itself, for example by providing an email interface,^[4] however applications have also been rejected for duplicating the functionality of iTunes.^[5] Applications may be rejected if they are of only "limited utility".^[6] Some reports indicate that toolbars must be placed at the bottom of the screen, and the vibration function should only be used for alerts.^[7] Applications may still be distributed "ad-hoc" if they are rejected, by the author manually submitting a request to Apple to licence the application to individual iPhones,^[8] although Apple may withdraw the ability for authors to do this at a later date.^[9] NDA restrictions have always forbid developers from publishing the content of their rejection notices, but Apple has now started labeling their rejection letters with Non-Disclosure (NDA) warning THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS MESSAGE IS UNDER NON-DISCLOSURE.^[10] Apple later changed the NDA citing that "it has created too much of a burden on developers"^[11] but they did not reverse the decision to forbid publication of rejection notices.^[12]