Apple did not invent the mobile application. Phones have had apps since the first time a phone had a screen. These first apps, however, lived in a closed ecosystem; the calendar, web browser and games came preloaded and locked down. If you wanted something more, you needed to buy a new phone. App developers worked for or were close partners of the phone developer, and reach was extremely limited.

Then came the iPhone, and the iOS SDK. Suddenly, the phone was not just a phone, but a platform, a medium in which you could even launch a business…

Source: Your voice will soon become the primary way to interact with all machines – Recode