• The New York Times, Thursday, July 10, 2008 11:45 AM

Today, the day before the iPhone 3G is released in the U.S., Apple is opening its new online App Store for iPhone software. As The New York Times points out, today is the day when Steve Jobs & co. begin their assault on the next generation of computing: the Web-connected smartphone. The App Store opens with more than 500 downloadable software apps, including games, educational programs, mobile commerce and business productivity tools. And 25% of the first 500 apps will be free; 90% of the commercial apps will sell for $9.99 or less.

According to report authors John Markoff and Laura M. Holson, the App Store's launch could be even more significant than tomorrow's release of the iPhone 3G, because "an abundance of software could make the iPhone's operating system dominant among an abundance of competing phones."

In an interview, Apple CEO Steve Jobs declares that, "The quality and the sophistication of the applications you can write for the iPhone is in a different class," which he thinks should help the iPhone succeed where his line of Mac computers failed against Windows PC. In part, Microsoft won that battle because software developers didn't write as many programs for Mac's OS as they did for Microsoft's Windows. As with iTunes and the iPod, App Store users can download new iPhone new software over the Internet. Apple is giving developers a 70% cut of sales. "We are not trying to be business partners," Jobs said. Rather, the goal is to "sell more iPhones."

Read the whole story at The New York Times »