App Store (iOS)
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| Developer(s) | Apple Inc. |
|---|---|
| Initial release | July 10, 2008 |
| Development status | Active |
| Operating system |
Native : iOS iTunes: macOS |
| Platform |
iPhone iPod Touch iPad iPad Mini iPad Pro iTunes |
| Type | digital distribution software update |
| License | freemium, freeware |
| Website | www |
The App Store is a digital distribution platform, developed and maintained by Apple Inc., for mobile apps on iOS. The store allows users to browse and download applications that are developed with Apple's iOS SDK. The apps can be downloaded to iOS devices; the iPhone smartphone, the iPod Touch handheld computer, the iPad tablet computer, and to the Apple Watch and 4th generation Apple TV as extensions of iPhone apps.
In 2016, Apple rolled out major changes to the App Store, including ads in search results and a new app subscription model. The subscription model saw the firmly established 70/30 revenue split between developers (who have traditionally received 70% of money earned from purchases) and Apple (which has traditionally earned 30%) change into a new 85/15 revenue split between developers and Apple if a user stays subscribed to the developer's app for a year.
On September 1, 2016, Apple announced that starting September 7, it would be removing old apps that do not function as intended or that don't follow current review guidelines. Developers will be warned and given 30 days to update their apps, but apps that crash on startup will be removed immediately. Additionally, app names registered by developers cannot exceed 50 characters, in an attempt to stop developers from inserting long descriptions or irrelevant terms in app names to improve the app's ranking in App Store search results. App intelligence firm Sensor Tower revealed in November 2016 that Apple, as promised from its September announcement of removing old apps, had removed 47,300 apps from the App Store in October 2016, a 238 percent increase of its prior number of average monthly app removals.
In January 2017, Apple published a press release, announcing several facts. January 1, 2017 was the App Store's "busiest day ever", generating $240 million. App developers earned $20 billions in 2016, and there are 2.2 million apps available in the store.
The general concept of an app store as a distribution platform for software goes back to the 1990s. In 2003, Apple launched the iTunes Music Store for digital media.
The iPhone App Store opened on July 10, 2008, via an update to iTunes. It allowed Apple to completely control third-party apps for the first time, and to introduce a charge on top of the basic cost of every app. 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. As of February 10, 2012[update], there are at least 1,100,000+ third-party apps officially available on the App Store.
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