As others have said, the genius of the app store isn't the technology (as you rightly point out, the technical problems have been solved for decades). The geni

As others have said, the genius of the app store isn't the technology (as you rightly point out, the technical problems have been solved for decades). The genius of the app store is in the business model: Make and market a device with unlimited demand, give third parties only one way to reach such a large market that they're willing to pay you 30% (while drastically lowering technical barriers to entry), and raise the barriers-to-exit so high for users that nobody ever leaves the ecosystem. Rinse, repeat, profit.