The Opening: The App Store Goes Live

The opening is the moment, and the moment is the store: the App Store that went live on Thursday, the launch with more than five hundred apps, the storefront on every iPhone and iPod touch. The opening is the week: the iPhone 3G on sale Friday, the OS 2.0 update that brought the store to every handset. The downloads began at once. The opening is the July 2008 story, and the story is the lesson: the distribution channel that was born, the payments that were built in, the platform that changed overnight.

The Opening is the subject of this article: the store that opened on Thursday, the apps that filled it, the weekend that followed, the model that pays developers seventy percent, and the platform that the iPhone became.

1. The Thursday Opening

The opening is the date, and the date is Thursday: the tenth of July, the worldwide launch, the store that appeared on every iPhone and on every iPod touch, the switch that was finally flipped and the counters that moved. The opening is the catalog: more than five hundred apps at the start, about a quarter of them free, the games from Sega and Electronic Arts, the social tools, the productivity software, the utilities that lined the digital shelves. The opening is the distribution: no boxes, no shelves, no shipping, no returns, just the download button and the progress bar.

The opening is the timing: the year since the iPhone went on sale, the months since the March announcement of the software development kit, the promise that was made in Cupertino and the promise that was kept this week. The opening is the reversal: the company that once said web apps were enough, that changed course under the pressure of the developers, that now runs a storefront of its own, that collects the payments and sets the rules. The opening is the message: the iPhone was a product, and now it is a platform, and the platform is the marketplace.

2. The Five Hundred Apps

The catalog is the first impression, and the first impression is the shelf: the five hundred apps that were live on Thursday, the games, the utilities, the social networks, the productivity tools, the famous names and the unknown ones, the priced games and the free downloads. The catalog is the range: Super Monkey Ball from Sega, the titles from Electronic Arts, the everyday apps and the office apps, the software that turned the phone into a console and the software that turned it into a tool. The catalog is the start: five hundred apps and a count that will grow.

The catalog is also the filter: the ratings and the reviews, the bestseller lists and the featured rows, the discovery that happens on the device, the word of mouth that travels through the network. The catalog is the economy: the paid apps and the free apps, the free ones that build the audience, the paid ones that build the revenue, the experiments that are just beginning. The catalog is the promise: a store that is open to the small developer and the giant publisher alike, a shelf that anyone can reach, a market built in just a single short week.

3. The First Weekend

The weekend is the verdict, and the verdict is the number: more than ten million downloads over the first weekend, the count that was reported around the world, the figure that is approximate and the meaning that is not. The weekend is the demand: the users who updated to the new operating system, who found the store on their handsets, who downloaded the games, the tools, the novelties, who told their friends and their colleagues. The weekend is the proof: the channel that works, the payments that clear, the catalog that sells, the model that is no longer a theory.

The weekend is also the scale: ten million downloads in days, the servers that held up, the network that carried the traffic, the store that did not buckle. The weekend is the signal: the developers who watched their sales counters, who saw the numbers move in real time, who understood that the audience was already there, waiting for the software, hungry for the games. The weekend is the beginning: the first three days of a market, the early returns of an economy, the numbers that will be measured for years, the baseline that every future launch will be compared against.

4. The Business Model

The model is the split, and the split is the seventy thirty: the developer who keeps seventy percent of every sale, the store that takes thirty percent for the distribution, the payments, the hosting, the terms that were announced in March and the terms that now govern the market. The model is the deal: the built in billing, the credit card on file, the one click purchase, the store that collects and the store that remits, the developer who does not need a merchant account or a payment gateway. The model is the machine: the channel and the checkout in one.

The model is also the comparison: the carriers who took their cut of mobile content, the operators who controlled the deck, the old world where the network owned the customer. The model is the shift: the store that sits above the carrier, the Apple account that sits above the phone number, the purchase that flows to the developer, not the operator, the economics that inverted in a week. The model is the question: what the thirty percent will fund, what the seventy percent will build, what the developers will do with a channel that pays and a market that is open.

5. The Platform Shift

The platform is the change, and the change is the phone: the iPhone that was a device and is now a stage, the handset that runs the operating system, the OS 2.0 update that arrived on Friday, the software that turned the product into a system. The platform is the history: the June launch of last year, the web apps that were promised, the developers who pushed for more, the jailbreak community that showed the demand, the reversal that came in March with the SDK. The platform is the result: the store on every iPhone and iPod touch, the software that reaches every screen.

The platform is also the strategy: the device that sells the ecosystem, the ecosystem that sells the device, the two hundred dollar iPhone 3G on sale Friday with the two year contract, the hardware that is cheap and the software that is the point. The platform is the pattern: the desktop that Apple rebuilt, the mobile Apple is now building, the developers who follow the audience, the audience that follows the software. The platform is the position: the iPhone against the rivals, the store against the old mobile world, the platform war that began this week, the battle just starting.

6. The Developer Rush

The rush is the reaction, and the reaction is the developer: the programmers who registered in March, who built through the spring, who submitted their apps for review, who waited for the store and who arrived with it. The rush is the range: the studios from Sega to Electronic Arts, the startups with two people and a laptop, the hobbyists who wrote software in the evenings, the teams that bet their careers on the platform. The rush is the energy: the countdowns that were posted, the launch day that was watched, the counters that moved, the first sales in the first hours.

The rush is the economics: the cheap app that sells a hundred thousand, the game that pays for a year of work, the store that turns code into income, the audience that pays without a sales pitch. The rush is the opportunity: the distribution that is global from the first day, the payments handled by someone else, the shelf that is equal for the giant and the garage, the market that opened on Thursday and will not close. The rush is the beginning: the developers who are in, the developers who are watching, the ones who will decide in the coming months.

7. The Industry

The industry is the context, and the context is the competition: the mobile world that Apple entered, the platforms that were already there, the Nokia and the Microsoft and the RIM, the carriers who controlled the phones and the content. The industry is the contrast: the old deck where the operator chose the software, the new store where the customer chooses, the walled gardens that are being compared to the open shelf, the models that are suddenly old. The industry is the pressure: the rivals who must answer, the platforms that must catch up, the race that was redefined on Thursday.

The industry is also the observer: the analysts calling the store the most important thing Apple has ever done, the writers comparing the launch to the Mac and the iPod, the carriers watching their decks, the rivals watching their futures. The industry is the question: the mobile business that is being remade, the software business that is being redistributed, the value that is moving from the operator to the developer, the money that is moving with it. The industry is the moment: the opening that happened this week, the era that begins with it, the story that is being written.

8. The Lesson

The lesson is the opening, and the opening is the model: the distribution that is global, the payments that are built in, the catalog that is always open, the store that never sleeps. The lesson is the platform: the device that became a marketplace, the audience that became a market, the developers who became a business, the value created by software and sold by a tap. The lesson is the pattern: the product that is a stage, the stage that is an economy, the economy that is only beginning. The lesson is the change, and the change is the pocket.

The lesson is the timing: the phone that has been in the world for barely a year, the store that has been open for days, the ten million downloads over the first weekend, the trajectory that is visible. The lesson is the perspective: the platform that wins the developers wins the future, the developers who follow the money, the audience that is here now, the market forming around it. The opening is the July 2008 story, and the story is the lesson: the store that opened on Thursday, the apps that filled it, the downloads that followed, the economy that was born.

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