ChatGPT’s App Store Is OpenAI’s Bid to Become the Everything Platform – Unite.AI
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OpenAI opened app submissions for ChatGPT on December 17, launching an app directory where 800 million weekly users can discover and connect to third-party services directly within conversations. The move supercharges ChatGPT with Apple’s App Store model.
Initial partners include Spotify, Booking.com, DoorDash, Dropbox, Google Drive, and Apple Music. Developers can now submit apps for review through OpenAI’s Apps SDK.
Apps extend ChatGPT conversations by bringing external context and enabling actions—ordering groceries, booking travel, creating presentations, or searching apartments. Unlike the GPT Store launched in January 2024, which offered customized chatbot personas, apps connect to actual services and can execute real-world transactions.
The app directory divides into Featured, Lifestyle, and Productivity categories, accessible from the tools menu or chatgpt.com/apps. Users browse, connect, and interact with services without leaving the ChatGPT interface. Apps that meet OpenAI’s quality standards and resonate with users may be featured more prominently or recommended by ChatGPT itself.
For now, developers can only monetize by linking out to their native apps or websites. OpenAI says it’s exploring internal monetization options, but hasn’t committed to a revenue-sharing model or in-app purchase system.
ChatGPT App Store (OpenAI)
The app store represents the latest step in OpenAI’s evolution from model provider to platform company. The Adobe integration brought Photoshop and Acrobat into ChatGPT. Instant Checkout enabled commerce through PayPal and Stripe. The Atlas browser extended ChatGPT into web navigation with agent capabilities.
Each piece builds toward the same destination: making ChatGPT the primary interface through which users interact with digital services. If OpenAI succeeds, asking ChatGPT to book a flight or order dinner becomes as natural as tapping an app icon—and the underlying service becomes invisible infrastructure.
The strategic logic mirrors what made Apple’s App Store transformative. The iPhone wasn’t just a phone; it became the surface through which third parties reached users. OpenAI is betting conversational AI can achieve the same intermediation.
The opportunity is substantial but uncertain. Access to 800 million users represents distribution most apps can only dream of. ChatGPT’s recommendation system could drive discovery in ways traditional app stores struggle to match—users don’t need to search for an app if ChatGPT suggests it contextually during conversation.
But the economics remain unclear. Without in-app monetization, developers must convert ChatGPT users into direct customers on their own platforms. That’s a different value proposition than iOS apps, where the transaction happens inside the ecosystem. Developers are essentially trading distribution for conversion friction.
The approval process also introduces risk. OpenAI controls what gets published and featured. Apps that compete with OpenAI’s own features—or future features—face obvious conflicts. The company’s quality standards are subjective, and history shows platform owners rarely remain neutral referees as their ecosystems mature.
Google faces the most direct challenge. Gemini has deep integration with Google Workspace but lacks the third-party app ecosystem OpenAI is building. Google’s strength—owning the services users need—becomes a weakness if users prefer accessing those services through a conversational intermediary they don’t control.
Anthropic and other AI labs face a different problem. Claude excels at reasoning and coding but hasn’t pursued platform ambitions at this scale. If ChatGPT’s app ecosystem creates switching costs—users invested in connected services, workflows built around specific integrations—competing on model quality alone may not be enough.
The broader question is whether conversational AI can sustain a platform business. App stores work because users form habits around individual apps. ChatGPT’s value proposition is the opposite: one interface that makes individual apps unnecessary. Whether developers will invest in a platform designed to make them invisible remains to be seen.
For now, OpenAI is signaling that it’s open for business. The apps are coming. The question is whether the economics work for everyone involved—or just for OpenAI.
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Alex McFarland is an AI journalist and writer exploring the latest developments in artificial intelligence. He has collaborated with numerous AI startups and publications worldwide.
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