In most cases, a simple "Happy Birthday" or "Happy Anniversary" would suffice, but when we're talking about Apple's App Store, it's going to be a little more complicated than that.
The company recently passed a six-year milestone in providing a marketplace for app and mobile game developers to provide products for iPhones and iPads, which led many publishers to offer discounts to consumers. There was also, of course, considerable buzz about the App Store reaching the six-year mark on Twitter.
Some developers couldn't believe how the time has flown by.
Its so crazy to think that the App Store is already 6 years old today: http://t.co/6h0BtPwgib
— Douglas Bodkin (@drb2991) July 10, 2014
Much of the social media conversation about the anniversary focused on the numbers, such as an estimated 1.2 million apps, 75 billion downloads, 800 apps downloaded per second and $15 billion paid to 9 million registered developers in 155 countries. Not everyone was as enamored with those statistics, though.
@panzer I am always skeptical of those numbers because many of us in the consulting trade have multiple dev accounts.
— Mike Hay (@Hay) July 10, 2014
@chockenberry @panzer which is meaningless because 9m devs haven't existed for 6yrs
— Chris Stamper (@cdstamper) July 11, 2014
Then there was an unsettling report that coincided with the App Store's sixth anniversary which suggested that the majority of iOS developers are far less successful than most people would think.
You'd never believe it! .Nearly 80% of Apps in Apple's App Store Are Basically... #apps #coding #zombies http://t.co/WvsEMulxOq
— Shamrock Inc. (@ShamrockApps) July 11, 2014
Even if that's true, there is no doubt the Apple App Store has been transformative for the industry as a whole and for an untold number of developers who have found a way to break through.
6 years! Changed my life. I'll forever be grateful to Apple. "@MacRumors: Apple's App Store Turns Six http://t.co/jYoEQOhkUp by @julipuli"
— Matthew Wiggins (@wiggo) July 10, 2014