The App-Store Moment of AI
Matthias Lübken•ArticleYesterday, we witnessed the App-Store moment of AI. Sam Altman revealed the new AppSDK, allowing developers to embed full-fledged Apps directly into ChatGPT. If you think about the transformation the iPhone App Store has brought, and then combine it with the adoption pace of ChatGPT, the implications are massive.
Do yourself a favor and watch minutes 3 to 15 of his keynote: OpenAI DevDay 2025: Opening Keynote with Sam Altman
Here are some themes I see:
Users:
Users are guided into rich app experiences starting from a simple query. Think about every personal and business task you have. Think about the best tool available to fulfill that task with everything filled out / clicked through, so you can finish the task. And then think about a single starting point: this is what OpenAI is aiming for.
Developers:
Developers can now integrate their applications seamlessly into a user's journey. They can derive a user's context, translate it to a task and guide users to just the right step in their applications. The UX will become far more streamlined and context-aware.
Platforms:
On a technical level, OpenAI has built on the open and widely adopted Model Context Protocol (MCP), extending it to include UIs. This gives other platforms and model providers a chance to follow suit and build compatible integrations.
Vendors:
Look at the launch partners, some are clearly excited to be embedded in OpenAI's ecosystem, hoping to gain traction.
Canvas, for example, is known for its excellent AI experiences, and their demo yesterday was fantastic. But what about Adobe? Do they feel ready to let OpenAI own the first touch with users? Last year, Satya Nadella famously said: Business applications are dead. He argued that a business application is basically app logic + CRUD database, and that AI agents are taking over the app logic part. If that’s true — would you also hand over the UI?
This feels like a truly transformative moment. I can’t wait to get my hands dirty with the AppSDK, build a few fun apps, and see how users actually work with them.
I’d love to hear your thoughts — how do you see this changing your business or product strategy? Comment below or ping me privately if you’d like to brainstorm together.