Dive Brief:

• Apple is launching an app store specifically for its iMessage messaging app, according to Ad Age. 
• The new app store will roll out with the iOS 10 update next Tuesday and will allow marketers and brands to create custom apps that give them direct access to iMessage users. 
• "All brands recognize this is a place they need to be right away," Christian Brucculeri, CEO of messaging technology agency Snaps, told Ad Age while declining to identify those he worked with on the iMessage app store. "Apple already made a massively successful app platform, so the fact that it's releasing another one, it's going to eat a lot of independent messaging apps' lunch."

Dive Insight:

Messaging apps are wildly popular right now — and brands are getting in on the opportunity to reach audiences in this new way. Messenger hit one billion monthly users in July, and Facebook has actively been working to make the messaging app essential for marketers by bringing chatbots onto the platform. Even though Messenger is the more marketing-friendly of Facebook’s two messaging apps, the company recently made changes to the WhatsApp privacy policy to share phone number data to improve ad targeting on Facebook.

Apple's iMessage reaches almost one billion people daily, thanks to the ubiquity of the iPhone. Those numbers put it within range of the leading messaging apps from Facebook — WhatsApp and Messenger, which also boast a reach of around one billion users. The new iMessage app store could give marketers a direct way to reach Apple’s walled-off user base.