The launch of the App Store, five years ago today, was arguably the defining moment in the history of the smartphone. 

Just yesterday, the two-year legal battle between Apple and Amazon over usage of the term “app store” came to an end, with Apples claim to the word as a trademark dismissed. Apple cant be entirely happy with this outcome, but the verdict – that app store is a generic term which can be used freely – just goes to show how mainstream the concept has become.

This anniversary is just the latest in a series of milestones the store has passed in 2013 – in May, it reached 50bn downloads, and it looks set to break 1bn apps available in the store before the end of the year. 

Our own David Murphy has already paid tribute to the App Store today, but we also went out to some of the industrys best and brightest and asked them for their thoughts.

Thomas Husson, VP and principal analyst at Forrester

“Apple created the app economy and gave a fantastic opportunity to brands to engage their customers in a new way,” says Husson. “At the end of the day, though, while that figure of $10bn (£6.7bn) looks huge, its a cumulative stat, and doesnt represent much in regards to Apples quarterly revenues. Also, the money is not evenly distributed, meaning that a lot of developers are struggling to be profitable with their apps. 

“While iPhone users are still the most mobile-savvy and spend most on apps, Google Play is catching up quickly and Apple should better improve the reporting to brands and developers. For now, lets face it, Apple App Store is still perceived as a black box by most developers and brands.”

Craig Palli, VP of business development at Fiksu

“Its amazing to think that the Apple App store is only five years old,” says Palli. “In just a few short years, the app store has become a major economic force and created an entirely new marketplace. 

“In addition to its rapid growth, the App Store is remarkable for defining a new economic market that is open to developers of all sizes, and where consumer choices create new app success on a daily basis. 

“For consumers, the App Store provides instant access to an incredible selection of entertainment, productivity and educational experiences. Clearly this has helped enable the overall growth of mobile devices –  moving them from a convenience to an essential element of daily life. 

“Hats off to Apple for achieving such rapid success.”

Caroline van den Bergh, UK head of business development at Golden Gekko

“Where would we be without the App Store? Never has there been a new retail channel that has taken off, from a consumers perspective, in such a short amount of time, nor anything – apart from Amazon – that has made ratings and reviews such a key metric for measuring success in retail.

“The figures are mind-blowing and theyre just going to grow,” van den Bergh says. “As a company that develops many apps, we could not be more thankful that Apple led the way in devising and standardising the best discovery tool in mobile. Happy birthday, App Store.”

Josh Hart, head of innovation at Chelsea Apps Factory

“Looking back to the announcement of the iPhone by Steve Jobs in 2007, the hardware was incredibly exciting – and yet it was merely a mobile phone with a touch screen,” says Hart. “The introduction of the App Store really changed the game, not only for Apple, but for consumers and large corporates alike. 

“It felt like we were reliving the creation of the personal computer. The demand for apps started in the consumer market and swiftly moved across into corporates who saw an opportunity to optimise and create efficiencies in their organisation by levering this new technology for a more mobile workforce.”

Scott Seaborn, executive creative director at XS2

“Since the launch of the App Store we have seen the mobile phone evolve into something new,” says Seaborn. “We still call it a mobile phone, but we do a lot more on it than make calls.  From a creative perspective, it has become a very rich territory indeed, and the celebrations of mobile work at Cannes Lions pay tribute to this. These are exciting times.”