The iPhone - Changing the Landscape Again
By Mark Levy CEO of MaxxoMedia
At the same time that Apple announced application and enterprise e-mail support for the upcoming iPhone update, one of the most respected and successful venture capital firms in Silicon Valley pledged $100 million to be invested in companies that are developing applications for Apple’s iPhone.The iPhone, which has sold just over four million units since it was launched, has been a massive consumer products success. It is redefining interfaces and design for the cell phone; you can see it in new designs from Nokia and LG. Now Apple aims to make the iPhone the next great software development platform.
Steve Jobs announced that the iPhone “Apps Store” will be the exclusive place to purchase applications designed for the iPhone. A new link on the home screen will give users access to a storefront from which they can access hundreds of applications specifically designed for the device. From games to productivity software and business applications, Apple is moving the computing experience from the desktop to the laptop to the mobile device.
Apple is launching a software developers kit, which will make it easy to create and test the applications. They are also offering a very generous revenue split with developers –70% to the developer and 30% to Apple. No credit card fees or hosting costs will be charged to the developers, either. Once the application is ready and included in the store, it will be made available to all iPhone subscribers. This is probably what made Kleiner Perkins start to salivate and commit that investment fund.
For developers who have spent the last few years making games or other apps for mobile phones, the opening of a store that is available to millions of people at the press of a button will change the landscape. Until now, these developers have had to fight for shelf space and visibility, carrier by carrier and handset by handset.
Many times, they were developing hundreds of versions of the application in order to hit the broadest possible audience. Even then the carrier could bury the application in the store, so the investment would go to waste. In addition, the experience of purchasing applications varies on every phone, which has kept people from making investments.
For those developers who rush to the new platform and port their applications, there is a lot of money to be made. iPhone owners are clearly in the early adopter section of the population — those who purchase new technology first. Expect them to rabidly purchase applications on day one.
Also up for grabs is the mobile enterprise e-mail crowd. RIMM, which owns the very successful Blackberry device, is clearly in Apple’s sights as they launch Microsoft Exchange compatibility with the iPhone. Now, Blackberry diehards, for whom the slick integration with corporate e-mail system is the main reason for maintaining the device, will probably think twice about the iPhone
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