The App Store opened for business on July 11, 2008, initially offering 500 free and paid downloads.
There are now more than 400,000 separate iPhone and iPad apps, which have been downloaded at total of more than 10 billion times.
Although before the iPhone and App Store there were both smartphones and applications to run on them, nobody had developed the tightly controlled distribution channel that has allowed Apple to create a consumer market worth billions each year. Every app is scrutinised by Apple to check it works properly, is secure and does not contain any pornography, among other criteria.
According to analysts, the median revenue per year for each app developed is around $8,700, but big hits can generate millions almost overnight, and Apple takes a cut of 30 per cent on each sale.
The model has been so successful that Apple has now extended it to its desktop and laptop comuters, with its new Mac App store. Rival smartphone operating system developers Google, Microsoft, Nokia, Microsoft and HP-owned Palm have all also created their own app stores.
