The Art of the App Store: The Business of Apple Development

THE EARLY APP STORE

When the App Store first launched in mid-2008, it was like the first primordial soup from which certain life forms are thought to originate. It was a volatile place with app prices in extreme flux, and huge numbers of early adopters.

Developers had already released more than 600 apps that took advantage of the iPhone device in exciting new ways, providing both monetary incentive and creative ideas to new developers. Figure 1-2 shows what the iTunes App Store looked like on launch.

FIGURE 1-2: Looking at the App Store on launch in July, 2008, note the abundance of white space, lack of the “App of the Week,” and the absence of a Books category

Novel Uses of the Touch Screen

The iPod Touch and iPhone's touch screen was a giant step in the evolution of interface control for several reasons. Sure, the Nintendo Wii started the trend when it announced its novel “Wii-mote” motion controller in 2005 that provided yet unseen interactivity for home consoles. But for mobile devices, tablets, and indeed future touch devices yet to come, credit for navigation protocol will typically go to Apple's first touch devices.

When you begin to create your app, the more naturally the app is integrated with the device it's hosted on, the better feedback and reviews you'll get from your customers. To that end, and as a primer for what's possible using these touch screens, Table 1-2 shows ...