Don’t sleep on ChatGPT apps: it might be the App Store moment of this decade
When Apple launched the App Store in 2008, brands were quick to take action. And let’s be honest: what really made the iPhone take off wasn’t the device itself, it was the App Store. Suddenly, any company could create an app and put it in the hands of millions. Within months, everyone from global banks to local gyms was in a mild panic trying to answer the same question: ‘What should our iPhone app be?’ It wasn’t elegant thinking, but we recognised a platform shift when we saw one.
Fast forward to OpenAI launching Apps inside ChatGPT, and it’s strangely quiet. No scramble. No urgency. Barely a conversation. Where’s the race to figure out what a brand should do inside this new environment? Why isn’t anyone treating this like the moment it is? We’re witnessing a major platform change in real time, yet marketers are reacting as if it’s just another feature update. If even that.
It’s safe to say we need a far bigger conversation about what this means for brands. AI products are becoming the new front door of the internet, and the quieter the industry stays, the greater the opportunity becomes for the few who decide to move first.
People won’t ‘consume’: they’ll ask
OpenAI launched an in-ChatGPT app platform in October 2025, enabling interactive third-party apps such as Spotify, Zillow, Canva and more inside conversations. Under the hood, this runs on MCP; a standard that simply makes it easier for AI systems to talk to real services. The result is real functionality, real actions, and experiences that show up right when someone asks for help. Developers can now build using the Apps SDK, effectively creating a ‘conversational app store’ for 800+ million users.
Here’s the thing: the mobile app interface we’re used to is still content based. Social feeds are content-based. Even TikTok, for all its discovery magic, feeds you content. ChatGPT doesn’t. This interface begins when someone asks. Not scrolls. Not watches. Asks.
That changes everything for how brands are experienced online:
- Intent becomes explicit
- The user leads
- Interaction replaces impression
- Utility replaces reach
In short, it’s a behavioural inversion of digital communication. And that means brands face a simple but critical question: how do you create an experience inside a chat interface that feels functional, human, and natural?
Take Spotify as an example. You can now type, ‘Spotify, create a relaxing playlist for two hours,’ and ChatGPT will suggest playlists for you right there in the conversation. No ads, no content overload. Just the brand showing up and solving a real problem in the moment. It’s essentially an app within an app. But make no mistake, this is just as game-changing, if not more so. Imagine that same experience connecting across multiple services: planning a move could start with Zillow for properties, then a moving service, then a home insurance tool, all flowing seamlessly within one conversation. Each brand contributes utility without the user ever leaving chat.
Brands don’t get to interrupt anymore
Eventually, users will expect your brand to help them inside ChatGPT. It’s traditional marketing and services logic flipped: it’s no longer about broadcasting messages; it’s about being genuinely useful in the moment. For some brands, that means becoming tools people use; helping plan, decide, compare, or organise. For others, it means creating experiences that guide, inspire, or simplify decisions in ways only this interface allows. Capabilities with outcomes. Presence that matters.
The thing is, ChatGPT apps can work for a fintech platform, a music service, or even a niche lifestyle brand, as long as the experience is designed with purpose. Look back at 2008: some brands built real utility, others built an app because we needed one. Guess who won that decade? Now imagine that speed multiplied by AI adoption. Brands that start now gain a compounding advantage: every conversation becomes a learning moment, a way to personalise and embed themselves into user workflows in ways static websites never could.
So what should brands do now?
Define what your brand helps people do, translate that into tasks, turn those tasks into capabilities, and bring them into the interfaces people are already using. Think in terms of utility, not attention. Think in terms of relationships, not impressions.
Who knows if this is the App Store moment of this decade, but it’s far too quiet for what it is. Brands that start now – shaping how their experiences appear in the moments people actually ask – will define the expectations everyone else will follow.
Take this as a wake-up call, if you will.
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