Five apps that changed history

The Apple App Store celebrates its fifth anniversary today - with more than 50 billion apps downloaded to date.

When it launched back in July 2008 alongside iPhone 3G, there were a mere 500 apps - including SEGA's Super Monkey Ball, Shazam, eBay and even a mobile version of MySpace.

That number has now risen to more than 900,000 - both free and paid-for - including 375,000 specifically for iPad.

Whether they created an app in a bedroom or coded it for a multi-million dollar company, Apple has paid iOS app developers a massive $10 billion in commissions over the past five years.

Apps such as mapping software, photo filters and To Do lists have revolutionised the way we live, work and communicate. Here's our five of the best.

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Angry Birds
Angry Birds has changed gaming forever. The game, created in 2009 by a Finnish studio with 50 unsuccessful apps to its name, has been downloaded a billion times - enough for one in seven of Earth’s population to play it. To put that in context, the best-selling album of all time, Michael Jackson’s Thriller, has sold 120 million in 30 years. Celebrity fans include David Cameron and Angelina Jolie - and its impact on the gaming industry has been immense. In the first quarter of 2012, 10% of the total earnings of the UK games industry were from Angry Birds.

Spotify
The music streaming site has changed the way we enjoy our favourite tunes - instead of buying a CD, or downloading a full album from the likes of iTunes, we now simply stream tracks we like instead. Next to Spotify, even downloaded music feels out-dated. The app offers a huge online library of 18 million tracks available to ‘stream’ (play instantly via the net) in CD quality - even over a phone connection. Phone users have to pay for Spotify Premium - £10 a month - but can download unlimited tracks to listen anywhere.

Google Maps
The fury that erupted around the world when Apple replaced Google Maps with its own, wonky Apple Maps was tribute to how essential this navigation app has become to smartphone users since it launched as a Java app in 2005. Google Maps now offers 3D Street View images, voice-controlled navigation - and the latest version of the Android app suggests nearby places to eat and drink without even being asked. The search giant is now recruiting "Trekkers" - armed with backpack cameras - to photograph outdoor areas its Street View cars couldn't reach.


Flipboard
This app turns multiple news sites into one "magazine" - mixed in with posts from Facebook and Twitter, all presented in a format where users "flip" pages as if reading a magazine. It was originally designed for the Apple tablet back in 2010, and has since taken off on other platforms including Android - it's shipped with new phones such as Samsung's Galaxy S4. Flipboard has been at the forefront of a new digital publishing revolution made possible by the App Store - changing our relationship with Web and magazine content in the same way Amazon's Kindle apps have changed our relationship with books.

TuneIn Radio
Want to listen to rock in Rotterdam or jazz from Jamaica? This global radio app broke down the boundaries between international, national and local radio stations - and mixed in podcasts, radio shows recorded specifically for the web. Tunein offers 70,000 stations and two million podcasts from one app, all free, streaming to your iPhone or Android via wi-fi or the phone network. The app lets you pause and rewind any station as you listen, and offers a mix of worldwide radio and homegrown stations such as Radio 1, Talksport and Absolute.