Apple (News - Alert) recently celebrated the fifth anniversary of the App store by offering up some of the store’s most popular applications for no charge. That giveaway underlies the massive success the app store has had, despite the fact that the company’s CEO had a real problem with the adoption of third-party applications when the store was first getting off the ground. But even given that success, there is work ahead for Apple in order to stay on top when it comes to mobile application stores.

While Apple has almost one billion applications in its store, that number is actually not as unattainable by other app stores as it might appear. Google (News - Alert) Play is fast approaching that number already, and Apple needs to understand that the number of apps isn’t nearly as important as making sure that future developers are still more interested in making iOS apps than apps for other formats.

Apple should also take another long look at changing the way its app store search functions work. The search has long been something that has held the store back. In order to continue success the company is going to need to work hard to revamp the search function, and soon. Apple will also need to find a way to handle the app store’s top charts that is fair and easy to understand for everyone. As companies take notice of the success of the app store, there are going to be even more attempts to game the system. Apple has never been a company that has come off warm and fuzzy towards third-party developers. If their approach continues to be confusing, third party developers might decide to take their work elsewhere.

Apple is going to need to get a real handle on the way it deals with app pricing in the near future as well. The company is trying to get into emerging markets more every day, but app developers are also looking to make more than the traditional $0.99 per app. Apple needs to figure out the direction they want to take when it comes to pricing in order to assure success in the future.