Some industry pundits have suggested that the App Store, which now has more than 10,000 applications for sale, is just a passing fad. But since Apple launched the App Store in July, iPhone and iPod Touch users have downloaded more than 300 million mobile apps. Earlier this year, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said the App Store could eventually become a billion-dollar business for the company that advocates thinking differently.
And why not? The App Store is a stroke of business genius, requiring very little overhead on Apple's part, while generating the kind of industry buzz that money can't buy. Many App Store offerings are free, while others--like Koi Pond, currently the App Store's top-selling paid app of the year--cost just 99 cents. With a current iPhone user base of 13 million, and more and more developers getting rich from the viral spread of iPhone apps, the App Store looks poised for continued success in 2009.
