Highlights from 5 years of the App Store (pictures)

On October 28, 2010, Instagram was featured as App of the Week. Today, more than 130 million people use Instagram, generating 1 billion 'Likes' everyday.

What Instagram brought to the table was a way for people to easily snap a picture, add a simple filter, then share it with other amateur smartphone photographers everywhere. Since the initial launch, it's added small features to streamline the process and, more recently, added 15-second videos to keep people interested in sharing their work. There are hundreds of copycat apps, but Instagram was the one that really got the image-sharing revolution on its way.

An extremely simple concept, bright colors, a cute hero, and endless fun -- what's not to like? Doodle Jump made a big splash because it was so easy to pick up and play. Start a game, then tilt your iPhone to jump and get to higher platforms just to see how high you can go.

Since it launched in April 2009, Doodle Jump has received several upgrades to add themes that change the overall look of the game, but it's kept the same simple gameplay mechanic. Now the franchise has gone on to surpass $10 million on iOS. It just goes to show you that sometimes "keeping it simple" is the perfect recipe for success.

On September 25, 2008, music identifier Shazam topped 1.5 million downloads, with users having tagged 20 million songs. But when it first came on the scene, Shazam was like magic for the uninitiated. When you heard a song playing, you could just hold up your phone and it would identify the song as your friends looked on. Amazing! Though we might be used to the technology now, Shazam was an early hit in the app store for being an app that let you show the cool things you could do with your iPhone.

Later iterations added more ways to interact with and buy music and share your favorites with friends, but it's no wonder Shazam has continued to be a success on the App Store for its simplicity and impressive ability to identify just about any song in seconds.

There were already several other endless runners in the App Store when Temple Run first launched in August 2011. But none had the cartoonlike graphics, 3D environments, and overall polish that Temple Run had. Simple swipe controls meant anyone could pick it up and play a game, but the increasing difficulty and speed, along with the need to go for a high score are what kept people coming back for more.

Now there are tons of 3D running games available, but none probably would have flourished if Temple Run hadn't paved the way.

In December 2010, one year after its launch, the popular bird and pig slingshot game Angry Birds was the year's most downloaded game. And why wouldn't it be? It's the perfect mix of cute characters; a slingshot mechanic that anyone from age 7 to 70 can understand; and tons of challenging levels that make you want to go back for that perfect 3-star rating.

There have been several new versions featuring new characters and new holiday themes, and there's even been a "Star Wars" version. They've all spent time on the top-10 list and continue to be some of the top downloaded games to this day.

Update, July 10 at 8:45 a.m. PT: Specifies number of apps available in Apple's App Store.