Thursday, March 6,2008 @ 2:10pm
Apple unveils App Store for iPhone, iTunes
As part of its SDK announcement, Apple today unveiled the App Store, the sole home for third-party applications for the iPhone and iPod touch. The service will be accessible either wirelessly from the device itself or through iTunes, which synchronizes apps to the handset on its next connection. To fund the store, Apple will follow a pattern set by Handango and other third-party stores and will collect 30 percent of the revenue from each app purchase. Free apps remain free for both the user and developer, Apple notes.
The Store will have only minor restrictions on what can be posted. Illegal material as well as pornography will be the software most likely to be blocked, although Apple has not provided a list of other possible exemptions.
Apple plans to make the store available as part of the version 2.0 iPhone and iPod touch firmware updates and should activate the service beginning in June, when the final software developer kit (SDK) as well as the firmware is available. A small cost is expected to update the iPod touch to add the new software support.