About App Store
An app store (or app marketplace) is a type of digital distribution platform for mobile apps. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not include the running of the computer itself. Apps are designed to run on specific devices, and are written for a specific operating system (such as iOS, Mac OS X, Windows, or Android). The functionality of complex software designed for use on a personal computer, for example, may have a related app designed for use on a mobile device. Such an app may offer similar, if limited, functionality compared to the complete software running on the computer.
Apps optimize the appearance of displayed data, taking into consideration the device screen size and resolution. Besides providing continuity of functionality over two different types of devices, such apps may also be capable of file synchronization between two dissimilar devices, even between two different operating system platforms. App stores typically organize the apps they offer based on these considerations: the function(s) provided by the app (including games, multimedia or productivity), the device for which the app was designed, and the operating system on which the app will run.
Due to its popularity, the term “app store” (first used by Apple’s App Store for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad lines) has frequently been used as a generic trademark to refer to other distribution platforms of a similar nature on both mobile devices and other platforms such as smart TVs. The model has done so well in and become so recognized by consumer markets that businesses have begun developing and deploying their own, branded app stores for their employees and customer populations. However, Apple has asserted trademark claims over the phrase, and filed a trademark registration for “App Store” in 2008.
Apple mentioned that 90% of the apps available on App Store are downloaded at least once a month and the total number of downloads is over 50 billion. Apple paid the developers for their apps around 10 billion dollars in the last 5 years, half of the amount being paid in the last 12 months.
The Apple App Store serves as the only way to download native iOS applications without jailbreaking the device, and apps can be purchased and downloaded directly to the device itself or they can be accessed through Apple’s iTunes software and then transferred to the iOS device. Apps can also be shared across multiple iOS devices and Mac OS X computers with Apple’s free iCloud service.
Many app stores are curated by their owners, requiring that submissions of prospective apps go through an approval process. These apps are inspected for compliance with certain guidelines (such as those for quality control and censorship), including the requirement that a commission be collected on each sale of a paid app. With the ease of use apps offer, and their presence on most mobile devices, app stores rose in prominence in at the beginning of the 21st century with their adoption by iOS (iOS App Store) and Android (Google Play). Similar systems for the distribution of apps written for other operating systems have also been available for some time (particularly Linux distributions since the early 1990s), through package management systems and their graphical front-ends.