All around the world we are seeing the rise of the App Economy—jobs, companies, and economic growth created by the production and distribution of mobile applications (“apps”) that run on smartphones. Since the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, the App Economy has grown from nothing to a powerful economic force that rivals existing industries.
Many people mistakenly think of mobile apps as simply games. In Vietnam, the mobile game app Flappy Bird got an enormous amount of attention after being released in 2013 by Vietnam-based developer Nguyễn Hà Đông, at one point becoming the number one downloaded free game on the iOS app store.
Games are important—but in reality, mobile games are only a small part of the App Economy. Apps are used by major multinationals, by banks, by media companies, by retailers, and by governments. As of July 2015, there were 1.6 million apps available for Android, and another 1.5 million available on Apple’s App Store.
Apps are the essential front door to the Internet. In the United States, most people use apps to access the Internet on their smartphones. They log onto the Face- book app, or their bank app, or the app of their airline. One could spend an entire day on the Internet while only using apps.
