App Store (iOS)

Apple Store.jpg
Screenshot of the desktop App Store in iTunes
Developer(s) Apple Inc.
Initial release July 10, 2008 (2008-07-10)
Development status Active / 725,700+ apps (as of February 2012)
25 billion apps downloaded (as of March 2012).[1]
Operating system iOS,
Mac OS X Tiger or later
Windows XP or later
Platform iPhone, iPod touch, iPad
Type Digital distribution, software update
License Proprietary freeware
Website www.apple.com/itunes

The Apple App Store is a digital application distribution platform for iOS developed and maintained by Apple Inc. The service allows users to browse and download applications from the iTunes Store that were developed with the iOS SDK or Mac SDK and published through Apple Inc.

Depending on the application, they are available either for free or at a cost. The applications can be downloaded directly to a target device, or downloaded onto a personal computer (PC) or Macintosh via iTunes. 30 percent of revenue from the store goes to Apple, and 70 percent go to the producer of the app.[2]

History

The App Store opened on July 10, 2008 via an update to iTunes. On July 11, the iPhone 3G was launched and came pre-loaded with iOS 2.0.1 with App Store support; new iOS 2.0.1 firmware for iPhone and iPod Touch was also made available via iTunes.[3] As of February 10, 2012 (2012 -02-10), there are at least 725,700+ third-party apps officially available on the App Store.[4]

As of January 18, 2011, the App Store had over 9.9 billion downloads, which was announced via the company's "10 Billion App Countdown".[5] At 10:26 am GMT on Saturday, January 22, 2011,[6] the 10 billionth app was downloaded from Apple App Store. As of July 2011, 200 million iOS users downloaded over 15 billion apps from its App Store.[7][8]

The mean revenue per application is estimated to be US$8,700, although data is not publicly available.[9] As of May 2011, Apple approved its 500,000th app and 37 percent of all apps are free with the average price $3.64.[10] The distribution of price follows a power law distribution (the Zipf–Mandelbrot law). Prices can be freely chosen by sellers at multiple of US$1 minus 1 cent (99¢, $1.99, and so on).

After the success of Apple's App Store, and the launch of similar services by its competitors, the term "app store" has been adopted to refer to any similar service for mobile devices.[11][12][13][14] However, Apple applied for a trademark on the term App Store in 2008[15][16] which was tentatively approved in 2011.[17] Later, in June 2011, U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton, who is presiding over Apple's case against Amazon, said she'll "probably" deny Apple's motion that seeks to bar the Web retailer from using the "App Store" name.[18][19][20] Later on July 6, Apple was denied preliminary injunction against Amazon's Appstore by a federal judge.[21]

The term app has become a popular buzzword; in January 2011, app was awarded the honor of being 2010's "Word of the Year" by the American Dialect Society.[22] Apple does not hold a trademark on, or claim exclusive rights to the term app, which has been used as shorthand for "application" since at least 2002, for example Google Apps (first introduced in 2006).[23]

On October 20, 2010, Apple announced the Mac App Store which was eventually launched on January 7, 2011. It is similar to the one for iOS devices, only it has applications designed for Mac computers.[24] The Mac App Store is only accessible by using Mac OS X Snow Leopard or Mac OS X Lion.

The App Store is accessible from the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad via an iOS application by the same name. It is also the only way to directly download native applications onto an iOS device without jailbreaking the device. Web applications can be installed on these devices, bypassing the App Store entirely, but they tend to have less functionality. The store is also accessible through iTunes, and then on any operating system for which iTunes is provided (Mac OS X and Windows).[25]

In February 2011, Apple announced its new subscription based service, which will allow publishers the freedom to set the length and price of subscriptions. Previously, new magazine or news releases were sold on a per release basis. The new service allows publishers to sell content directly through their apps, allowing users to receive new content over specified periods of time. Furthermore, Apple will begin allowing publishers to not only distribute and/or sell their applications from iTunes, where revenues will continue to be shared (70 percent for the publisher, 30 percent for Apple), but also allow them to distribute their subscriptions directly from their websites, where no revenue will be shared with Apple.[26]

iPhone SDK

Main article: iOS SDK
App Store running on iPad version of iOS 4.3.5

The Software Development Kit for iPhone OS 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, iPod Touch and iPad. A beta version was released after the event and a final version was released in July 2008 alongside the iPhone 3G.[27]

This major Roadmap event (coupled with a large distribution program for 3rd-party developers), later became known as the iPhone Developer Program, which currently offers two distribution tracks for 3rd-party developers: Standard, and Enterprise.[28]

Applications distributed through the standard program can be sold exclusively through the iTunes Store on Mac and Windows, or on the App Store on the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.[28] Developers who publish their applications on the App Store will receive 70 percent of sales revenue, and will not have to pay any distribution costs for the application. However, an annual fee is required to use the iPhone SDK and upload applications to the store.[27]

Applications developed through the enterprise program, officially the "iOS Enterprise Developer Program" (iDEP), are exclusively for institutional use and do not get published on the App Store. This allows corporations, non-profits and government agencies to develop proprietary "in-house" applications not for public release.[28] The enterprise program was updated September 14, 2010, to allow any organization with a DUNS number to join. Prior to this date, only organizations with 500 or more employees could join the enterprise program.

To run an application on the iPhone, the application must be signed. This signed certificate is only granted by Apple after the developer has first developed the software through either the US$99/year Standard package or the US$299/year Enterprise package with the iOS SDK.[27]

Number of launched applications

On July 10, 2008, Apple CEO Steve Jobs told USA Today that the App Store contained 500 third-party applications for the iPhone and the iPod Touch, and of these 25 percent were free.[29] These third party applications range from business to game applications, entertainment to educational applications, and many more applications available for free or for sale. On July 11, 2008 the store opened, allowing users to buy applications and transfer them to an iPhone or iPod Touch with the iPhone 2.0 software update, which became available through iTunes on the same day. Ten million applications were downloaded the first weekend.[30]

On January 16, 2009, Apple announced on its website that 500 million applications had been downloaded.[31] The billionth application was downloaded on April 23, 2009.[32] In March 2012, the number of apps downloaded reached 25 billion.[citation needed]

Unlike the apps that come standard on the iPhone, apps downloaded from the App Store can be removed by the user at a future date.

Revenue share

Global Mobile Applications Store Revenue

Besides downloading volumes, the App Store's relatively high revenue of US$1782 million in 2010 may be attributed to it having only 28 percent of free apps, in comparison to Google Play's over 57 percent of free apps. As a result, both Nokia's Ovi Store and BlackBerry's App World, both of which have only 26 percent free apps, also pull in higher revenues than Google Play despite having much lower downloading volumes.[33]

Milestones

Chart showing App Store downloads and available apps over time.
App Store application availability has increased in line with downloads over time.
Date Available apps Downloads to date Average download per app
July 11, 2008[34] 500 0 0
July 14, 2008[30] 800 10,000,000 12,500
September 9, 2008[35] 3,000 55,000,000 18,334
October 22, 2008[36] 7,500 200,000,000 26,667
January 16, 2009[31] 15,000 500,000,000 33,334
March 17, 2009[37] 25,000 800,000,000 32,000
April 23, 2009[32] 35,000 1,000,000,000 28,571
June 8, 2009[38] 50,000 1,000,000,000+ ~20,000
July 11, 2009[citation needed] 55,000 1,000,000,000+ ~18,182
July 14, 2009[39] 65,000 1,500,000,000 23,077
September 9, 2009 75,000 1,800,000,000 24,000
September 28, 2009[40][41] 85,000 2,000,000,000 23,529
November 4, 2009[42][43] 100,000 2,000,000,000+ ~20,000
January 5, 2010[44][45] 120,000 3,000,000,000+ ~25,000
March 20, 2010[46] 150,000+ 3,000,000,000+ ~20,000
April 8, 2010[47] 185,000+ 4,000,000,000+ ~21,622
April 29, 2010[48] 200,000+ 4,500,000,000+ ~22,500
June 7, 2010[49] 225,000+ 5,000,000,000+ ~22,222
September 1, 2010[50] 250,000+ 6,500,000,000+ ~26,000
October 20, 2010 300,000+[51] 7,000,000,000[52] ~23,334
Jan 22, 2011[53] 350,000+ 10,000,000,000+ ~28,571
June 6, 2011[4] 425,000+ 14,000,000,000+ ~32,941
July 7, 2011[7] 425,000+ 15,000,000,000+ ~35,294
October 4, 2011[54] 500,000+ 18,000,000,000+ ~36,000
February 28, 2012 500,000+ 24,000,000,000+ ~40,000
March 3, 2012[1] 500,000+ 25,000,000,000+
March 5, 2012[55] 550,000+ 25,000,000,000+
March 7, 2012 585,000 25,000,000,000+

iPad applications

The iPad launched in April 2010 with over 3000 applications designed for the iPad. By December 2010, just eight months after the release of the iPad, over 50,000 apps were available for the device.

As of July 2011, 16 months after the iPad launched, there were over 100,000 apps available at the App Store designed specifically for the device.[56]

On July 7, 2011, Apple announced that over 15 billion apps had been downloaded from the iOS app store.[7] But, micro level information on the number of downloads of each ranked application has not been made available. To help app producers with their marketing effort and help researchers in better understanding the Apple's iOS app store, a recent research study[57] has tried to estimate the model that converts the app rank to daily downloads. Researchers Garg and Telang from Carnegie Mellon University found that the app downloads follow a Pareto distribution and can be estimated using the equations:
iPad_app_downloads = 9,525 * paid_app_rank^(−0.903)
iPhone_app_downloads = 52,511 * paid_app_rank^(−0.944)
NOTE: this claim has not been verified by Apple or any other market research organization.

At the end of November 2011, Apple advertised in holiday newsletter of online Apple Store there are more than 140,000 iPad apps available.

Most popular apps

In April 2009, Apple announced the apps which had the most number of downloads since the store was launched. Among paid apps, Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D, by Activision Publishing, was ranked first, while Facebook enjoyed the same position among free apps, followed by Google Earth.[58]

The top 10 most popular Paid and Free apps across all categories are listed below:[59]

Rank Paid apps Free apps
1 Angry Birds Facebook
2 Fruit Ninja Pandora Radio
3 Doodle Jump Words With Friends Free
4 Cut the Rope Skype
5 Angry Birds Seasons The Weather Channel
6 Words With Friends Google Search
7 Tiny Wings Google Earth
8 Angry Birds Rio Angry Birds Free
9 Pocket God Shazam
10 Camera+ Netflix

Application ratings

Apple rates applications worldwide based on their content, and determines the age group for which each is appropriate. According to the iPhone OS 3.0 launch event, the iPhone will allow blocking of objectionable apps in the iPhone's settings. The following are the ratings that Apple has detailed:

Rating Description
4+ Contains no objectionable material.
9+ May contain mild or infrequent occurrences of cartoon, fantasy or realistic violence, and infrequent or mild mature, suggestive, or horror-themed content which may not be suitable for children under the age of 9.
12+ May also contain infrequent mild language, frequent or intense cartoon, fantasy or realistic violence, and mild or infrequent mature or suggestive themes, and simulated gambling which may not be suitable for children under the age of 12.
17+ May also contain frequent and intense mature, horror, and suggestive themes; plus strong sexual content, nudity, strong language, alcohol, tobacco, and drugs which may not be suitable for children under the age of 17. Also, if the app accesses the internet it is rated 17+.[citation needed] Consumers must be at least 17 years old to purchase apps with this rating. Whenever an app of this rating is requested for download, a message will appear, verifying if a user is 17 or older, and asking to confirm the purchase for this reason.

App approval process

Main article: Approval of iOS apps

Applications are subject to approval by Apple, as outlined in the SDK agreement, for basic reliability testing and other analysis. Applications may still be distributed "ad-hoc" if they are rejected, by the author manually submitting a request to Apple to license the application to individual iPhones, although Apple may withdraw the ability for authors to do this at a later date.

Non-disclosure agreements (NDA) have always forbidden developers from publishing the content of their rejection notices, but Apple has now started labeling their rejection letters with an NDA warning THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS MESSAGE IS UNDER NON-DISCLOSURE. Apple later changed the NDA citing that "it has created too much of a burden on developers" but they did not reverse the decision to forbid publication of rejection notices. Some applications are not available outside the US App Store at the request of the developer. Since so many developers have published rejection emails Apple now most often call submitters to verbally tell them their rejection notice.

In addition, Apple has removed software licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL) from the App Store after complaints from one of the program's developers, claiming that the App Store's terms of service are incompatible with the GPL.[60][61]

Enterprise App Stores

Because Apple's App Store is for consumers, companies are unable to distribute in-house apps on the App Store. Under Apple's iOS Developer Enterprise Program companies can publish in-house apps using an Enterprise App Store[62] with systems such as AppWave,[63]AppCentral,[64]Apperian EASE,[65]Appaloosa Store[66]Partnerpedia or a Mobile Device Management platform such as Sybase Afaria.

Apps published with Apple's iOS Developer Enterprise Program are still subject to Apple's control via the controversial kill switch,[67] where Apple can revoke a publisher's digital certificate and thereby "kill" the app on user devices. However, there is no evidence that this has been done in the enterprise environment.

Similar services for other devices

Main article: List of digital distribution platforms for mobile devices

Competitors also have their own stores for mobile applications. Palm Inc. published an application store similar to the App Store for Palm devices[68] and announced the App Catalog for webOS on the Palm Pre that was released on June 6, 2009. Another platform, Google Play ( former Android Market ) is used in conjunction with Google's Android operating system. Microsoft has released Windows Phone Marketplace, an application store for their Windows Phone platform.

Nokia released The "Ovi Store"[69] (which replaced its earlier "Download!" application, which predated Apple's App Store) for its S60 and S40 based mobile devices. Samsung has created Samsung Apps, primarily to cater for its own Bada OS, but also with support for certain other Samsung devices. Research in Motion (RIM) also launched its application store BlackBerry App World.[70]

The Nintendo DSi is able to connect to an online store called the "DSi Shop", along with Sony's PlayStation Portable (PSP) and Playstation Vita being able to connect to PlayStation Store to download games, etc. The Nintendo 3DS also has its own application distribution platform, called the Nintendo eShop.

References

  1. ^ a b "25 billion apps have been downloaded from the iOS App Store, Apple has announced.". March 3, 2012. http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2012/03/25-billion-apps-have-been.ars. Retrieved May 8, 2012. 
  2. ^ "Analyst: There's a great future in iPhone apps", Venture Beat, June 11, 2008.
  3. ^ "Apple Introduces the New iPhone 3G" (Press release). Apple Inc.. June 9, 2008. http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/06/09iphone.html. Retrieved September 16, 2009. 
  4. ^ a b "Apple Special Event, June 6, 2011". Apple Inc.. June 6, 2011. http://www.apple.com/apple-events/wwdc-2011/. 
  5. ^ "10 Billion App Countdown" Apple January 14, 2011.
  6. ^ 10:26 AM GMT on Saturday, January 22, 2011 setteB.IT January 22, 2011.
  7. ^ a b c "Apple's App Store Downloads Top 15 Billion" (Press release). Apple Inc.. http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/07/07Apples-App-Store-Downloads-Top-15-Billion.html. 
  8. ^ [1][dead link]
  9. ^ "Full Analysis of iPhone Economics – it is bad news. And then it gets worse". Communities Dominate Brands. June 22, 2010. http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2010/06/full-analysis-of-iphone-economics-its-bad-news-and-then-it-gets-worse.html. 
  10. ^ http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_technews/20110524/tc_yblog_technews/apple-approves-its-500000th-app-but-do-you-care[dead link]
  11. ^ Carew, Sinead (April 22, 2009). "In app store war, BlackBerry, Google hold own". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE53L5DK20090422. Retrieved June 23, 2009. 
  12. ^ Furchgott, Roy (May 29, 2009). "Nokia's App Store Launches With a Hiccup". The New York Times. http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/29/nokias-app-store-launches-with-a-hiccup/. Retrieved June 23, 2009. 
  13. ^ Ganapati, Priya (March 4, 2009). "BlackBerry App Store Gets a Name". Wired. http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/03/blackberry-app/. Retrieved June 23, 2009. 
  14. ^ Shiels, Maggie (July 20, 2009). "Technology | Apps 'to be as big as internet'". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8157043.stm. Retrieved December 2, 2009. 
  15. ^ "Apple files for MacRuby, App Store & Finder trademarks". MacNN. July 22, 2008. http://www.macnn.com/blogs/2008/07/22/apple-files-for-macruby-app-store-finder-trademarks.html. Retrieved Aug 27, 2009. 
  16. ^ "Trademark application". United States Patent and Trademark Office. July 21, 2008. http://tarr.uspto.gov/tarr?regser=serial&entry=77%2F525433&action=Request+Status. Retrieved Apr 18, 2011. 
  17. ^ Pachal, Peter (Apr 1, 2011). "How Apple Can Trademark 'App Store'". PC Magazine. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2382968,00.asp. Retrieved Apr 18, 2011. 
  18. ^ Judge likely to deny Apple's 'Appstore' complaint | Apple Talk – CNET News
  19. ^ Apple Bid to Bar Amazon ‘Appstore’ Will ‘Likely’ Be Denied – Businessweek
  20. ^ "Apple may have tough road in Amazon lawsuit". Reuters. June 22, 2011. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/22/us-apple-amazon-idUSTRE75L79Y20110622. 
  21. ^ Apple denied preliminary injunction against Amazon's "Appstore"
  22. ^ "Linguists vote 'app' Word of the Year"[dead link]. The Associated Press. 2011-01-07. Retrieved January 27, 2011.
  23. ^ http://www.google.co.uk/#q=app+-application&hl=en&lr=&sa=X&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&tbs=cdr:1,cd_min:1/1/1998,cd_max:31/12/2007&fp=1&cad=b
  24. ^ Apple unveils new MacBook Airs, previews Lion | Beyond Binary – CNET News
  25. ^ "iTunes Download site". http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/. Retrieved February 26, 2011. [dead link]
  26. ^ Thomasch, Paul (February 15, 2011). "Apple rolls out subscription service". Globe and Mail (Toronto). http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/tech-news/apple-rolls-out-subscription-service/article1907736/. Retrieved February 15, 2011. 
  27. ^ a b c "Apple Announces iPhone 2.0 Software Beta" (Press release). Apple.com. March 6, 2008. http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/03/06iphone.html. Retrieved December 2, 2009. 
  28. ^ a b c Apple Inc.. "iPhone Developer Program – Enterprise Distribution". Developer.apple.com. http://developer.apple.com/iphone/program/distribute.html. Retrieved December 2, 2009. 
  29. ^ "Jobs: App Store launching with 500 iPhone applications, 25% free". Engadget. July 10, 2008. http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/10/jobs-app-store-launching-with-500-iphone-applications-25-free/. Retrieved June 5, 2010. 
  30. ^ a b "iPhone App Store Downloads Top 10 Million in First Weekend" (Press release). Apple Inc.. July 14, 2008. http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/07/14appstore.html. Retrieved November 10, 2008. 
  31. ^ a b "iPhone App Store breezes past 500 million downloads". The Register. January 16, 2009. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/16/half_billion_iphone_apps/. Retrieved January 24, 2009. 
  32. ^ a b "Apple's Revolutionary App Store Downloads Top One Billion in Just Nine Months". Apple Inc.. April 24, 2009. http://www.apple.com/ca/press/2009_04/app_store.html. Retrieved May 3, 2009. [dead link]
  33. ^ "Google Android has double the number of free apps than Apple's App Store". Distimo. July 15, 2009. http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/05/distimo-june-2010/. Retrieved July 15, 2009. 
  34. ^ "iPhone 3G on Sale Tomorrow" (Press release). Apple Inc.. July 10, 2008. http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/07/10iphone.html. Retrieved January 17, 2009. 
  35. ^ "App Store Downloads Top 100 Million Worldwide" (Press release). Apple Inc.. September 9, 2008. http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/09/09appstore.html. Retrieved November 10, 2008. 
  36. ^ "Apple Reports Fourth quarter Results" (Press release). Apple Inc.. October 21, 2008. http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/10/21results.html. Retrieved January 17, 2009. 
  37. ^ "Apple Opens Up More Ways To Get Paid On The iPhone, Adds Key New Features. Apps Hit 800 Million Downloads.". TechCrunch. October 21, 2008. http://techcrunch.com/2009/03/17/phone-apps-hit-800-million-downloads. Retrieved January 17, 2009. 
  38. ^ "TechCrunch.com". TechCrunch. June 8, 2009. http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/08/40-million-iphones-and-ipod-touches-and-50000-apps/. Retrieved June 8, 2009. 
  39. ^ June, Laura (July 14, 2009). "Apple's App Store crosses the 1.5 billion download mark". Engadget. http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/14/apples-app-store-crosses-the-1-5-billion-download-mark/. Retrieved July 25, 2009. 
  40. ^ "Apple's App Store Downloads Top Two Billion" (Press release). Apple Inc.. September 28, 2009. http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/09/28appstore.html. Retrieved September 28, 2009. 
  41. ^ "Appleinsider.com". Appleinsider. September 28, 2009. http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/09/28/apple_announces_app_store_downloads_top_2_billion.html. Retrieved September 28, 2009. 
  42. ^ "Apple Announces Over 100,000 Apps Available on the App Store" (Press release). Mac Rumors. November 4, 2009. http://www.macrumors.com/2009/11/04/apple-announces-over-100000-apps-available-on-the-app-store/. Retrieved December 2, 2009. 
  43. ^ "Apple Announces Over 100,000 Apps Now Available on the App Store" (Press release). Apple Inc.. November 4, 2009. http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/11/04appstore.html. Retrieved December 2, 2009. 
  44. ^ Apple Announces 3 Billion App Store Downloads – Mac Rumors
  45. ^ Apple's App Store Downloads Top Three Billion
  46. ^ Apple – iPad – Apps for iPad
  47. ^ Eric Slivka (April 8, 2010). "Apple's iPhone OS 4.0 Media Event: 'Sneak Peek Into the Future'". MacRumors. http://www.macrumors.com/2010/04/08/apples-iphone-os-4-0-media-event-sneak-peek-into-the-future/. Retrieved April 8, 2010. 
  48. ^ Thoughts on Flash
  49. ^ AppleInsider | Apple says App Store has made developers over billion
  50. ^ "Apple Special Event, September 1, 2010". Apple. September 1, 2010. http://www.apple.com/apple-events/september-2010/. 
  51. ^ "Jobs Speaks! The complete transcript". Macworld. October 18, 2010. http://www.macworld.com/article/154980/2010/10/jobs_transcript.html. Retrieved June 11, 2011. 
  52. ^ "Apple Special Event, October 20, 2010". Apple Inc.. October 20, 2010. http://www.apple.com/apple-events/october-2010/. 
  53. ^ "Apple's App Store Downloads Top 10 Billion" (Press release). Apple Inc.. January 22, 2011. http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/01/22appstore.html. Retrieved January 22, 2011. 
  54. ^ "Apple Special Event October 2011". Apple Inc.. http://www.apple.com/apple-events/october-2011/. 
  55. ^ "App Store's 25 Billionth Download Comes From China with 'Where's My Water? Free'". MacRumors. http://www.macrumors.com/2012/03/05/app-stores-25-billionth-download-comes-from-china-with-wheres-my-water-free/. 
  56. ^ Over 100,000 iPad Apps Available|
  57. ^ Estimating App Demand from Publicly Available Data. SSRN. SSRN 1924044. 
  58. ^ Apple's most popular apps ever, announced April 2009 | Mobile Web Go
  59. ^ Apple Names All-Time Top App Store Apps | The Mac Observer Retrieved May 14, 2012.
  60. ^ Brett Smith, "More about the App Store GPL Enforcement", Free Software Foundation blog
  61. ^ David Murphy (January 8, 2011). "Apple Pulls VLC Player from App Store Due to GPL". PC Magazine. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2375476,00.asp. Retrieved January 8, 2011. 
  62. ^ "Emerging Tech: Alternatives to Apple App Store, For Enterprises". cio.com. November 19, 2011. http://www.cio.com/article/638175/Emerging_Tech_Alternatives_to_Apple_App_Store_For_Enterprises. 
  63. ^ "AppWave Private App Stores". Embarcadero. http://www.embarcadero.com/appwave. 
  64. ^ "Enterprise App Store". AppCentral. http://www.appcentral.com. 
  65. ^ "Enterprise App Services Environment". apperian.com. http://www.apperian.com/ease. 
  66. ^ "Private App Store". Appaloosa. http://www.appaloosa-store.com. 
  67. ^ "Apple iPhone Kill Switch: Can CIOs Trust Apple?". cio.com. November 15, 2011. http://advice.cio.com/tom_kaneshige/14415/apple_iphone_kill_switch_can_cios_trust_apple. 
  68. ^ "The Palm Software Store has gone mobile". Appstore.pocketgear.com. January 31, 2009. http://appstore.pocketgear.com/palm/. Retrieved December 2, 2009. 
  69. ^ "Ovi Store". Store.ovi.com. http://store.ovi.com/. Retrieved December 2, 2009. 
  70. ^ "RIM store crowned BlackBerry App World". CNET. March 4, 2009. http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10188400-1.html. Retrieved March 8, 2009. 

External links

iOS and iOS-based products
Hardware
A black iPhone 4S.
Software
Apps
Services
Other
Generations
IPhone 4S No shadow.png
Features
Supporting
software
Discontinued
Accessories
Models
Accessories
Software
Other
Italics indicate discontinued products. See also: iOS-based products.
Founders
Apple Inc.'s logo
Board of directors
Executives
Hardware products
Accessories
Software products
Stores and services
Companies
Related
Books
Music
Video
Games and
software