page_title: App store
section_title: Precursors
hierarchical_section_title: App store / History / Precursors
caption_attribution_description: English: A Screen Shot of Stone Design's 3DReality running on the Electronic AppWrapper, the first AppStore
context_page_description: An app store is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not include the running of the computer itself. Complex software designed for use on a personal computer, for example, may have a related app designed for use on a mobile device. Today apps are normally designed to run on a specific operating system—such as the contemporary iOS, macOS, Windows or Android—but in the past mobile carriers had their own portals for apps and related media content.
context_section_description: The Electronic AppWrapper was the first commercial electronic software distribution catalog to collectively manage encryption and provide digital rights for apps and digital media (issue #3 was the app store originally demonstrated to Steve Jobs at NeXTWorld EXPO). While a Senior Editor at NeXTWORLD Magazine, Simson Garfinkel, rated The Electronic AppWrapper 4 3/4 Cubes (out of 5), in his formal review. Paget's Electronic AppWrapper was named a finalist in the highly  competitive InVision Multimedia '93 awards in January, 1993 and won the Best of Breed award for Content and Information at NeXTWORLD Expo in May, 1993.
  Prior to the Electronic AppWrapper which first shipped in 1992 people were used to software distributed via floppy disks or CD-ROMs, one could even download software using a web browser or command-line tools. Many Linux distributions and other Unix-like systems provide a tool known as a package manager, which allows a user to automatically manage the software installed on their systems (including both operating system components and third-party software) using command line tools—new software (and the packages required for its proper operation) can be retrieved from local or remote mirrors and automatically installed in a single process. Notable package managers in Unix-like operating systems have included FreeBSD Ports (1994), pkgsrc (1997), Debian's APT (1998), YUM, and Gentoo's Portage (which unlike most package managers, distributes packages containing source code that is automatically compiled instead of executables). Some package managers have graphical front-end software which can be used to browse available packages and perform operations, such as Synaptic (which is often used as a front-end for APT).
  In 1996, the SUSE Linux distribution has YaST as frontend for its own app repository. Mandriva Linux has urpmi with GUI frontend called Rpmdrake. Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux has YUM in 2003 as a successor of YUP (developed at Duke University for Red Hat Linux).
  In 1997, BeDepot a third-party app store and package manager (Software Valet) for BeOS was launched, which operated until 2001. It was eventually acquired by Be Inc. BeDepot allowed for both commercial and free apps as well as handling updates
  In 1998, Information Technologies India Ltd (ITIL) launched Palmix, a web based app store exclusively for mobile and handheld devices. Palmix sold apps for the three major PDA platforms of the time: the Palm OS based Palm Pilots, Windows CE based devices, and Psion Epoc handhelds.
  In 1999, NTT DoCoMo launched i-mode, the first integrated online app store for mobile phones, gaining nationwide popularity in Japanese mobile phone culture. DoCoMo used a revenue-sharing business model, allowing content creators and app providers to keep up to 91% of revenue. Other operators outside Japan also made their own portals after this, such as Vodafone live! in 2002. At this time mobile phone manufacturer Nokia also introduced carrier-free downloadable content with Club Nokia.
  In December 2001, Sprint PCS launched the Ringers & More Wireless Download Service for their then-new 3G wireless network. This allowed subscribers to the Sprint PCS mobile phone network to download ringtones, wallpaper, J2ME applications and later full music tracks to certain phones. The user interface worked through a web browser on the desktop computer, and a version was available through the handset.
  In 2002, the commercial Linux distribution Linspire (then known as LindowsOS—which was founded by Michael Robertson, founder of MP3.com) introduced an app store known as Click'N'Run (CNR). For an annual subscription fee, users could perform one-click installation of free and paid apps through the CNR software. Doc Searls believed that the ease-of-use of CNR could help make desktop Linux a feasible reality.
  In 2003 Handango introduced the first on-device app store for finding, installing and buying software for smartphones. App download and purchasing are completed directly on the device so sync with a computer is not necessary. Description, 
caption: A Screen Shot of Stone Design's 3DReality running on the Electronic AppWrapper, the first app store
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