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An innovation is a new way of doing something. A cell phone maker actually owning the store where applications are sold online was new and successful or we wouldn't be having this discussion.

Really, how many applications would the iphone have if AT&T or Verizon controlled what was allowed to be downloaded there?

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Dunno, but for-pay apps not endorsed by the carriers have been around forever. Symbian, Windows Mobile, Blackberry, and Palm have had third-party apps forever.

And nobody used them.

The app store has changed mobile application delivery forever. If you want proof, look at the recent moves by all 4 of the examples given.

I doubt the App Store matters. People loved the iPhone before there were apps, remember?

Palm OS, Windows Mobile, etc., etc., died because they fucking sucked, not because there was no single app store.

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