APPLE
The Birth of The App Store
The Epic v. Apple trial sheds light on the App Store’s origin
On October 17, 2007, Steve Jobs announced Apple’s intention to allow third-party apps on the iPhone. It was a decision that catapulted the iPhone into becoming the most successful product of all time. But Jobs’ announcement came 10 months after the iPhone launch at MacWorld 2007, which begs the question, when did he decide to pursue an App Store strategy? Was Jobs prescient enough to anticipate the need for the App Store or was he forced to acquiesce to insistent calls for an official SDK?
It’s an interesting question made more interesting by the conflicting answers provided by Stephen Silver’s AppleInsider feature story “The revolution Steve Jobs resisted”. The feature starts by reporting that Jobs resisted supporting apps from third-party developers, using Walter Isaacson’s biography of Jobs to help make that case. The feature then refutes Isaacson:
Others in the know disagree with Isaacson’s story and contend third-party apps were always on the iPhone roadmap; Jobs and company were simply not comfortable with releasing an SDK at launch.
Ultimately, Silver punts on the question and moves on to discussing other aspects of App Store history. That’s where I thought the question would…
