
With 250,000 applications cumulatively downloaded more than 5 billion times to date, it's easy
to forget that the App Store didn't come along until a year after the iPhone debuted in 2007.
But in a relatively short time, Apple has not only inspired many copycat mobile-app platforms,
but made it unthinkable for any smartphone maker with serious aspirations to not have access to
an app store. Google, Nokia, Microsoft, Research In Motion, Palm, Hewlett-Packard, LG, and
plenty of others all have developed similar mobile stores through which users can browse and buy
games and applications via their mobile devices.
wow power levelingwow powerlevelingcheap wow goldworld of warcraft power levelingpower levelingffxiv power levelingffxiv gilffxiv power levelingffxiv goldffxiv power levelingffxiv gilsWhen the App Store turns 2 years old on Saturday, it will still stand as the undisputed king of
the consumer mobile-applications world. Major content providers, and mobile-developer studios
large and small, make applications for Apple's platform before any other.
But that doesn't mean Apple can ignore some serious challenges to its throne, some of which have
been brought on by its own success and others from rivals such as Google that have figured out
the app store game.
Google, which was late to the app store party, is emerging as Apple's biggest foil. The Android
Market now has almost 60,000 apps, and carriers say they are activating 150,000 Android phones
per day. While that pales in comparison to the popularity of Apple's App Store, that's some
serious momentum.