tech news story of 2008 – Apple iPhone App store

There’s no shortage of competition for the top tech news story of 2008, that much is for sure.

There’s the obvious (the explosive growth of social networks such as Twitter and Facebook) to the stories that didn’t happen (Microsoft Corp.’s proposed US$44-billion takeover of Yahoo Inc.) to the fascinating but ultimately underwhelming product releases (Google’s Chrome browser).

I am no Apple fan boy even though I’ve written multiple blog posts on the company this past year. Too often, the company gets a free ride from media and users.

But in the case of the App Store, its impact cannot be denied despite the fact it was announced six short months ago. Currently there are more than 140 new apps being released every day, over 9,000 available for download, and a ratio of paid to free apps of 7:2. The average price is roughly US$4.15.

It has helped reinforce and drive the success of the iPhone, which was already one of the world’s fastest-growing mobile devices. Its success comes despite the fact most of the applications offered to date range from the inane (the iPhone Fart apps) to the only somewhat useful (the Flashlight).

More importantly, Apple has single-handedly managed to pry open the application download process from the hands of the wireless carriers. No longer must users take what is given to them the applications optimized from by carriers.

Its immediate success has also inspired competitors, such as Research In Motion and and Google with its Android Market, to create application development stores as well. Others application development stores are likely to be announced in 2009 (Microsoft SkyMarket anyone?)

Oddly, the App Store was a secondary item of note at best in June when Apple announced the store at its annual worldwide developer conference. Now it’s seen as the driver of what is a fast-growing mobile development platform.

This all spells good news for consumers, developers and yes, even the carriers for years to come as interest in the mobile platform is on the rise.

[tags] iPhone, Apple, mobile application development [/tags]