Steve Jobs didn't want third-party apps on the iPhone — the App Store saved it

When Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone in January 2007, he envisioned a closed platform. Developers could not create native apps — they could only build web applications that ran in Safari. Jobs argued that native apps would compromise security, performance, and the user experience. The iPhone was designed to be a device that Apple controlled entirely.

Developers were frustrated. The web app model was limited — no access to the camera, the accelerometer, push notifications, or the phone's core features. The backlash was significant. In October 2007, Jobs announced that Apple would release a software development kit by February 2008. The decision was a reversal of the company's original position. The first iPhone had shipped without any promise of third-party apps.

The App Store launched on July 10, 2008, alongside the iPhone 3G. It opened with 500 applications, 125 of which were free. The response was overwhelming: 10 million downloads in the first weekend. The billionth app was downloaded on April 24, 2009. By 2023, Apple had paid over $320 billion to developers. The term 'app store' became a generic term, and 'app' was named the 2010 Word of the Year by the American Dialect Society.

The App Store transformed the iPhone from a well-designed phone into a platform. It created the app economy, established the model for mobile software distribution, and became a primary revenue driver for Apple. The decision to open the platform — a decision Jobs initially resisted — was the decision that made the iPhone the dominant smartphone in the world.