Developers can’t wait to get on the iPhone gravy train
By Erna Mahyuni
As the Apple hypemachine keeps rolling, software developers are falling all over themselves to cash in on Apple’s upcoming App Store.
The AP reported analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray saying this on the App Store:"This is the iTunes Store for the iPhone…if you build an application that is compelling, people will pay $10, $20 for it."
He’s not the only one upbeat on the App Store. Other analysts are painting a rosy picture of what just might be Apple’s iTunes of the software world. ComputerWorld got this soundbite from Gartner’s Michael McGuire.
"I think there is that significant potential for App Store to be for the iPhone what iTunes is for the iPod," said McGuire. "One thing Apple knows how to do is sell bits," he added. "iTunes is seamless and frictionless, and I think that can be duplicated with the App Store."
iPhone users are also an interesting demographic on their own. Mobile research firm M:Metrics reported 31 percent of iPhone users watched mobile TV or video, compared to the 4.6 percent market average. Half of iPhone users also report using it to access a social-networking site, 12 times more than the industry average.
Before, iPods were novelty items. Now, they outsell all other MP3 players and iTunes has remained the most popular online music purchasing site, despite the emergence of competitors like Amazon, Wal-Mart and Nokia. If what made iTunes sexy is ported to the App Store, it’s obvious Apple’s got another money spinner on its hands.
July 11 is just around the corner – that means the iPhone is due to arrive, as well as the final iPhone 2.0 Firmware and the App Store proper. Applications are already open to developers to submit their offerings for sale on the store. Without Apple’s express approval, no one’s getting their app for sale.
Get started by downloading the eighth beta version of the iPhone OS, available in the iPhone Dev Center. With this new version of iPhone OS you can conduct final testing and prepare your application for submission to the App Store.
It’s pretty much a sure thing that Apple’s being inundated by applications, especially as July 11 is around the corner. Best opportunity to get noticed as the frenzied new iPhone owners hunt for new apps to tweak out their new toys.
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