The term “App Store” and its concept were originally established by Steve Jobs in the iPhone 3G announcement keynote presentation in 2008. Unlike previous digital distribution platforms, the Apple App Store signifies on one touch download, one touch update and the provision of easy access to apps for consumers. After the success of Apple's App Store, it quickly became the main stream service to provide mobile software to mobile devices as competitors of Apple launch similar services. Examples include the Android Market by Google, Blackberry App World by Research in Motion, Ovi Store by Nokia and Windows Phone Marketplace by Microsoft. Currently, the Apple App store and the Google Android market receive the most attention and they are often being compared. However, as the Apple App Store are the most widely recognised app store, this article will focus this particular platform.
The Apple App Store
The Apple App Store is a service for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad which allows users to browse and download applications from the iTunes Store. The App Store opened on July 10, 2008 via an update to iTunes and on the next day, the iPhone 3G was launched and came pre-loaded with iOS 2.0 with App Store support. As of October 20, 2010, there are at least 300,000 third-party applications officially available on the App Store, with over 7 billion total downloads. Depending on the application, they are available either free, or at a price.
App development
From programming codes to smartphone applications, the Software Development Kit (SDK) for iPhone OS was announced on March 6, 2008. The SDK allows developers running Mac OS X 10.5.4 or higher on a Mac to create applications that will run on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. This is now known as the iPhone Developer Program. An annual fee is required to use the iPhone SDK and upload applications to the store. This fee will pay for the maintence of the app store and other anonomyous fee. Finally, to run an application on the iPhone, the application needs to be signed. This signed certificate is only granted by Apple after the developer has first developed the software through the iPhone Developer Program.
Who says iPhone ain’t business?
Although Blackberry mobile phones are known for business use, the iPhone are not for fun and multimedia only. Applications developed through the enterprise program, the "iOS Enterprise Developer Program" (iDEP), allows corporations, non-profits and government agencies to develop applications for internal use. These applications are exclusively for institutional use and do not get published on the App Store. As for iPhone developers, applications distributed through the standard program can be sold exclusively through the iTunes Store, or on the App Store on the iOS devices. Developers who publish their applications on the App Store will receive 70% of sales revenue, and will not have to pay any distribution costs for the application, with the exception of the above mentioned annual fee.
App approval
To get applications into the App Store, developers are required to submit their app and wait for approval or rejection by Apple. It was always complained by developers that the application approval process is lengthy and sometimes applications are being rejected. Rejected apps were given feedback on the reason they were rejected so they could be modified and resubmitted. There were also some controversial application withdrawal incidents, for example the Google Voice application was withdrawn in July 27, 2009. This lead to speculation that Apple did this as Google stepped into the smartphone market with the Android system. The case even went to the court.
However, on September 9, 2010, Apple published the official App Store Review Guidelines for developers. At this time several development restrictions were lifted and many developers of previously rejected applications were asked to resubmit their applications under the new guidelines.
It is a very significant mildstone, as the Google Voice got readmitted to the US app store and a Flash-enabled browser named Skyfire also made it into the app store.
Security problems of the jailbreak community and the Android market
For iDevices, the App Store is the only direct way download native without voiding the warranty. Web applications can be installed on these devices, bypassing the App Store entirely but they tend to have less functionality. So if you want some functionality that the app store does not offer, you may have to try alternatives. Jailbreak is the action to gain root access to the command line of the operating system thus removing any limitations imposed upon them by Apple. Once jailbroken, iPhone users are able to download extensions, applications and themes unavailable in the App Store via installers such as Cydia. Apple considers this act as illegal while under the United States Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act, this is rather debatable. Nonetheless, some jailbroken iDevice users will install priced apps originally available in the App Store. This act is absolutely considered illegal and is an act of priracy and is highly discouraged. It is reasonable to see the installers such as Cydia to provide a real open platform for iDevice users, just like the Abndroid market. However, there are no such app approval process, it is very possible that users of the Android market and jailbropken iDevice users to accidentally install malicious software from third-party websites that may harm your device or even steal your personal data. Therefore, a completely open system is not absolutely perfect as there are certain risks that users will have to bear.
Future implications – the Mac app store
Following the success of the Apple app Store, on October 20, 2010, Apple announced the Mac App Store, a forthcoming digital distribution platform for Mac OS X applications. The platform is scheduled to launch by mid January 2011 and is modeled after the iOS App Store. It will simplify the whole app discovery, comparison and download process. As it is still not being released, not much information or speculation about its impact is given.
Conclusion
Living in the age of smartphones brings us a lot of convinece. Not only that we can browse the web anytime anywhere, the vast majority of applications with different functionalities are a very important factor that contributes to the rapid proliferation of smartphones. It is delightful to know that Apple lowered their requirement for app approval, while still keeping the user environment safe and friendly. Although the Apple App Store is still the priviledged one for now, we can foresee that competitiors will be rising quickly, adding more competition to the smartphone business. As the Chinese saying goes, “with competition comes improvement”, we can expect that App Stores will continue be one of the major components that constantly improve itself in the future.
References
- http://developer.apple.com/appstore/resources/approval/guideline
- http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/03/06iphone.html
- http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/06/09iphone.html
- http://developer.apple.com/appstore/guidelines.html
- http://www.tuaw.com/2008/08/07/thoughts-on-the-iphone-app-store-review-process/
- http://www.examiner.com/gadgets-in-san-francisco/google-voice-iphone-app-rejected-by-apple
- http://www.apple.com/mac/app-store/
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