App Store Turns One

A colorful, glittering page on iTunes reveals that Apple’s revolutionary App Store is now one year old. Using the App Store, iPhone and iPod touch owners can download free applications at no charge, or purchase priced applications. As usual, the company used application icons to create artwork for the celebration banner, which, in our opinion, is the best looking yet.

“Light a candle and cue the music,” Apple says on the iTunes Store page. “Okay, forgive us for sounding like doting parents, but we’re just so proud – having watched the App Store go from promising newcomer to full-fledged revolutionary. To celebrate its first birthday, we’ve gathered some of our favorite games and apps. Part fun. Part function. Entirely amazing.”

As most of you should know, the iPhone 2.0 software release shipped with the App Store application, enabling every iPhone and iPod touch owner on the planet to browse, search, purchase and wirelessly download third-party applications directly onto their iPhone or iPod touch. Just as it was introducing the service, Apple explained that the App Store also worked in the favor of developers, as it enabled them to reach every iPhone and iPod touch user out there.

“Developers set the price for their applications—including free—and retain 70 percent of all sales revenues,” Apple revealed during the WWDC '08 keynote address to the delight of everyone present. Indeed, the system paid out for many developers. For others, however, it spelled more headaches than profits, showing that no one (not even Apple) was perfect.

Third-party apps for iPhone and iPod touch must always be approved by Apple and are available exclusively through the App Store. The approval system has also proven faulty over the course of this past year. Apple itself admitted at one point that the incredibly large flow of apps was just too much for the approval team to handle. Explicit or injurious apps have been mistakenly approved now and then, but Apple always acts fast in pulling them.

The App Store currently hosts close to 60,000 iPhone and iPod touch apps.