10 July 2008: Apple opens the App Store
Apple opened the App Store with about 500 apps, one day before the iPhone 3G went on sale. Developers could now sell software to iPhone owners directly, with Apple taking a cut. It sounded like a feature; it became an economy. Millions of apps and billions in payouts later, the store turned the iPhone from a gadget into a platform, and gave Apple a toll booth on a huge stream of digital spending.
The lesson: Owning the platform where others do business can be more valuable than any single product on it.
What it meant for investors
$1,000 in Apple at the start of 2008 → $35,714 today, vs $4,626 in the S&P 500.
We start the clock at the start of 2008, the year it happened. That is 35.7 times the money, and $31,088 more than a plain index fund made over the same years.
What Apple teaches: The best returns often come from companies that looked finished; Apple was a near-bankrupt also-ran in 1997, which is exactly why it was cheap.
| Bought in | Price then | Worth today | S&P 500 would be |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | $7.00 | $35,714 | $4,626 |
| 2010 | $7.50 | $33,333 | $6,071 |
| 2012 | $14.70 | $17,007 | $5,312 |
green = beat the S&P 500 · red = lost money
What if you bought Apple? Every starting year and the full story →
More Apple history
- 2 January 2019: Tim Cook writes a letter nobody wanted to read
- 9 January 2007: Steve Jobs unveils the iPhone
- 24 January 1984: The Macintosh goes on sale
- 27 January 2010: Apple unveils the iPad
- 1 April 1976: Apple is founded, and one co-founder cashes out early
- 11 April 1976: The Apple I goes on sale for $666.66
Could you have called it at the time? The wheel picks the year, you pick the position, ten seconds a pick.
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