4 The App Store
Apple first launched the App Store in 2008, and when it first “opened,” it was host to only about 500 apps from large, third-party developers. In a press release published on July 14 that year, Apple called the mobile marketplace “revolutionary” and “groundbreaking.” And, surprisingly, that isn’t an exaggeration in the least bit. You can thank the App Store for everything from Uber to Flappy Bird, as the marketplace ushered in a new era of business and businesspersons.
The App Store opened the floodgates for the app economy, an industry that’s estimated to be worth $6 trillion by 2022. Since its opening, the App Store has created hundreds of thousands of new jobs that wouldn’t have existed otherwise. And Apple seems to know how important apps are, both to consumers or developers, as we’ve seen in the quirky “Appocalypse” video during WWDC ’17. (Of course, the App Store owes its development to another revolutionary Apple device. But more on that later.)