Apple is launching App Store, an online software emporium that will offer such programs as games, pedometers, tip calculators and language translators for the iPhone 3G, which goes on sale tomorrow.
The company hopes to boost sales of the device by enabling buyers to transform the phone into a personalized electronic Swiss Army knife of sorts.
"We live in a post-modern world of
fragmented preferences," says Shiv Bakhshi, an analyst at research firm IDC. "The more applications out there, the more people will find the iPhone useful."
The new App Store will be the
only retailer of Apple-sanctioned software programs for the iPhone family and the iPod Touch. It's an approach that breaks from tradition; typically the manufacturer of the phone doesn't sell
software, says Rob Enderle, principal analyst at Enderle Group. But there's a risk in opening up the iPhone to outside programs, Enderle says. For example, will the programs hurt the iPhone's
reliability and performance?
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