This week marks the 10-year anniversary of the launch of the iOS App Store and, admittedly, it’s making us a little misty here at Motive. From launching with just 500 apps on July 10, 2008 to growing to over 2 million apps today, the App store has become one of the most important software product stores on the planet, launching an over $100 billion industry and the app ecosystem that we all know and love today.
In honor of the App Store’s 10th birthday, members of our team took a moment to share memories of their first app during our team huddle this week. Here are a few of their reflections:
(In case you’re an iOS user and you’d also like to take the same walk down app memory lane, just open the App store, go to your profile photo, click ‘Purchased’, select the ‘Not on this iPhone’ tab and get ready for your mind to be blown).
Jamie Evans, Director of Ad Ops: Tap Tap Revenge
Tap Tap Revenge was a game series that was modeled after Guitar Hero, but made for iPhone. The premise was to tap along in sequence to different songs. The studio behind it was also my first employer in the mobile space. I loved experiencing and seeing all the work and creativity that goes into creating an app. TTR basically got me hooked on working in mobile!
Michael Deiters, Client Services Account Coordinator: Doodle Jump
In Doodle Jump you bounce up through different environments, picking up jet backs and blasting things until you get knocked down. When I started at Motive I worked as a Tech and would have to test games like this all the time to make sure our tracking was set up. I never would have thought that one day I’d get paid to play a game app!
Queenie Leong, Accounting Coordinator: EC Dictionary
I had recently moved to the U.S. from China when I got my first iPhone so my first app was a Chinese to English dictionary. It was so much better than carrying around an actual pocket dictionary and I still use the app today.
Happy birthday App Store! The Motive team and world at large would not be the place it is today without your existence. In the words of Tim Cook on Twitter: “For hundreds of millions of people, in ways too many to count, life is better because “There’s an app for that!”