Welcome to the terrible twos: Happy 2nd Birthday, App Store!Filed under: App Store
As all parents know, a two-year-old is a distinctively different creature than the giggly, adorable infant and winsome, inquisitive toddler that precedes her. She has moods; she begins to articulate wants and needs with a precision bordering on the frightful; she can peel the paint off the walls with a stubborn tantrum or amaze with a clearly expressed insight. For the two-year-old, it's the beginning of understanding that the world doesn't always conform immediately to her desires -- and man, is that ever a giant buzzkil. It's a challenging, sometimes deeply trying transition from babyhood to being a kid. It's the terrible twos.
tweetmeme_url='
http://www.tuaw.com/2010/07/10/welcome-to-the-terrible-twos-happy-2nd-birthday-app-store/';tweetmeme_source='tuaw';You could argue that the App Store ages in Internet time (it's like dog years, only slightly faster), so in terms of its mental age it might be closer to a gawky adolescent than a human two-year-old. Nevertheless, as we mark the 2nd anniversary of the launch of the App Store back in July of 2008, in some ways it is remarkably like seeing an individual personality emerge from an immature, unfinished baseline. It may be a personality with a fondness for bathroom humor and some disturbing control-freak tendencies, but it's something.
I could cite superlatives from here until the App Store's next birthday -- over 225,000 apps live in the store, more than 40 thousand unique publishers, over $1 billion in revenue paid out to a crowd of still-enthusiastic developers -- but what it comes down to is this: Apple built a market. Built it, made it run, invited in the innovators and 'the crazy ones' who decided to see what would come of their hard work. Before the App Store, most people didn't associate 'phones' and 'applications' at all, even though there were plenty of apps out there. Now, a would-be smartphone that skips over the app availability question is pretty much dead on arrival.
Happy birthday, App Store; we'll begin our celebration today from the date of the press release announcing 500 launch applications (500!), even though tomorrow (July 11) was the on-sale date of the iPhone 3G with OS 2.0. Congratulations to all the people both inside and outside of Apple who have contributed to making the past two years as lively and exciting as they've been. We can't wait to see what happens next -- even if it is a few months of tantrums and growing pains.
[hat tip to William @ Different District]
Photo by D. Sharon Pruitt | flickr: ccTUAWWelcome to the terrible twos: Happy 2nd Birthday, App Store! originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 10 Jul 2010 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
http://www.tuaw.com/2010/07/10/welcome-to-the-terrible-twos-happy-2nd-birthday-app-store/
