AppStore + AppMarket - The Pocket Bazaars

Earlier this year, I raved about the iPhone, not for it's groovy accelerometer but its potential as a market maker.  And my, hasn't that potential paid off in the shape of AppStore.  The iTunes mobile widget shop has served up 100m items in a mere sixty days, which is amazing even by the standards of today's mega-web.  The really remarkable aspect is the revenue share that Jobs' service is offering, with developers picking up seventy per cent of any takings, leading to stories such as Steve Demeter picking up a handy $250k for his iPhone game, Trism.  As a client of mine remarked the other day, in terms of business that is, 'like opening up a shop and sitting back as your customers arrive to stock the shelves for you.'  However, AppStore follows the cool-yet-closed Apple model, which means developers are restricted which shelves in the shop they can access.  Google is now looking to blow that thinking out of the water with the Android App Market on October 22nd, a purely open source SDK, where developers can not only provide the goods but also write the merchandising plan.  However, it seems that Google see its mobile OS mainly as a way to build mobile search share.  And even the Big-G might find it difficult to compete with the might of iTunes which is now the biggest music retailer in the US.  Lordy.

Comments

[Tim Kitchin]

james - to your point, check out 'dynolicious' track-day performance metering for your 'motor' - if you can keep it stable...

[James Cherkoff]

Thanks Timbo, I'll try it in my Kangoo!