Apple’s App Store has passed the 100,000 app mark within 16 months
Congratulations are in order for Apple; Apple’s App Store has passed the 100,000 app mark within 16 months. This is no small achievement considering that the concept of an app store along with the product life of the iPhone has been a few short years in comparison to some industry giants such as Nokia, Palm, Samsung, LG, and Sony Ericsson.
The number is milestone considering the tough review that most apps go through when submitted to Apple. With a wait time of weeks to months, Apple’s iPhone is a consumer success along with the App Store that created a massive storm of developers moving into to develop apps.
However, the competition is heating up with Google’s acquisition of specialist social media and web design companies. Clearly, the Android Marketplace seems like it will get a revamp to ensure that it can compete with the integration of iTunes-App Store. The social media will probably integrate with Google searches ensuring that the developers and Marketplace both receive webtraffic.
Secondly, Palm’s holding a conference soon in an effort to attract more customers to its webOS. Interestingly enough, Palm has a number of high-quality apps that have been developed by specialist firms already available. As mentioned previously in the blog, Fandango has its own version available for webOS, which helps build customer trust in the platform itself. The Palm Pre and Pixi will help spread the word of webOS, provided Palm markets them aggressively on Sprint’s network.
iPhone exclusivity may come to an end – AT&T executives
AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega released a rather controversial yet understandable statement regarding the exclusivity of the iPhone to AT&T’s network. He mentioned that the portfolio of phones and services extend beyond Apple’s iPhone. Surprisingly, it makes sense. Apple is still a very new entrant into the cellphone market in comparison to industry giants such as Nokia, Samsung, LG, Sony-Ericsson, and other Taiwanese competitors. Apple’s cult-like following and design elements are what have been the primary success factors for the phone itself.
Ralph’s statements are not necessarily shocking when placed in light of the new phones that have been developed to compete with the iPhone. The Palm Pre and HTC’s offerings alone offer technologies that are similar to the iPhone at price points that are extremely competitive. Apple has yet to develop a product that will overshadow the success of the iPhone. Firmware upgrades and improved wireless connectivity will only go so far in dealing with the competition that the iPhone faces. In addition to this, the exclusivity of the iPhone can only extend till the network supports the technology requirements of the existing AT&T network. With networks moving towards 5G capabilities, AT&T clearly needs to diversify to support the new phones that are being offered by competitors. As open technology standards move towards a standardized set of features on phones, Apple needs to remain ahead of the curve through it research and development.
Apple’s fortunes have been primarily focused on a cult-like fan following along with a matchless integration of the App Store and iTunes. Google’s recent capital expenditure on specialized technology firms which include SEO and social marketing specialists is indicative of revamping the Android Marketplace. With such firms onboard to revamp and develop new technologies, it seems that the Android Marketplace will soon be able to compete more efficiently and effectively in comparison to the App Store. This is a serious factor for AT&T to consider when the iPhone begins to saturate the smartphone market. By remaining excessively exclusive to Apple, AT&T may narrow its market unnecessarily missing out on opportunities to challenge other service providers in the United States. Resultantly, AT&T should begin revamping its product lines to address customers that require needs that are unable to be fulfilled by the iPhone.
Apple has had a reputation for being rather draconian when enforcing its copyright over technologies, logos, or similarities in their products. However, the tables seem to have been turned now with Nokia suing Apple for technology infringement on mobile technology.
Nokia claims that the technology that was pioneered in the iPhone was already present in Nokia cellphones and being developed by Nokia. Apple basically used the ideas pioneered by Nokia to build the iPhone without giving due credit and signing an agreement with Nokia.
Nokia’s lawsuit directly takes a shot at all versions of the iPhone; effectively forcing Apple to deal with Nokia’s claims promptly. Experts estimate that Nokia invested close to €40 billion in research and development for the technology now used in the iPhone. Nokia has an agreement with major handset manufacturers that allows them to use Nokia’s R&D in their phones.
Nokia claims that Apple has not signed this agreement and will be penalized for their blatant misuse of the technology. Apple has not responded as such, but Apple’s shares did drop slightly upon Nokia’s press release.
This situation again brings up some interesting scenarios for Nokia. Assuming that the €40 billion in research and development can be validated and the technology directly linked to Nokia, Apple will be in a difficult situation. The profit margins on the iPhone may end up becoming the property of Nokia if the lawsuit is successful. The overall popularity and growth of the iPhone has placed Nokia in a financial quandary since the Finnish handset maker posted its first loss in a decade this quarter. The move seems rather petty considering that the lawsuit will most likely cost Apple a significant amount of money to deal with the lawsuit or an out-of-court settlement but could be a boon for Nokia. At this point, it seems that royalty payments to Nokia would probably be the most cost-effective manner with a fixed sum while Apple signs the agreement on technology standards.
Android phones have been in development for a very long time by major manufacturers such as Samsung, Nokia, HTC and Motorola. With the growing anticipation of the high-end features such as touch screens and improved operating system stability, phone manufacturers and the Android team expects to see a boom in sales during the holiday season. An additional benefit for Google will be increased interest in its smartphone OS; a key element when growth is lagging behind the still-strong iPhone.
The situation is overall in favor of Android since the phones launched are significantly more powerful than the iPhone and support Adobe’s new Flash update. Considering that a majority of the web content available online is in Flash. This is a major incentive for developers as well who can view and develop their content so that it continues to span the Internet and their smartphones, and acts as a bridge between the two technologies.
The recent upgrades to the Android market will also be tested as users start purchasing phones in anticipation of uploading new apps to their phones. After following a similar structure to the App Store as created by Apple, Google hopes to bring a sense of familiarity to the storefront to ensure customer retention and interest in their Android platform.
Below is a list of phones that are expected to be released on T-Mobile’s network that will have the Android OS on them:
“T-Mobile Tap
No keyboard here, the T-Mobile Tap is a touchscreen phone with a focus on Web browsing and socializing. It support email, SMS, MMS and IM, and comes with GPS, Bluetooth and a 2-megapixel camera. Users can choose between berry and midnight blue finishes.
Nokia 3711
The Nokia 3711, which will arrive late-October-ish on the T-Mobile network in a shade called sable, is an economy-friendly feature phone with 3G Web browsing, built-in GPS, support for email and IM, a 2-megapixel camera with video and Bluetooth.
Palm WebOS Development Conference in December 2009
Working overtime to push their smartphone OS into the open market, Palm has decided to organize a conference in December 2009 in an effort to lure developers to its platform and begin developing apps to market on their Open Catalog e-commerce program. A key development of this conference will ultimately be how Palm decides to charge developers and provide a business structure acceptable to all parties concerned. Palm has stated that,
“(It) will offer developers choices for getting their applications to market, as well as a transparency into the process that will help them promote and grow their businesses.” – eWeek
Previously the apps offered at the store were free, however, realizing that the iPhone OS along with Android and RIM’s BlackBerry OS were quickly gaining ground over webOS; Palm decided to increase its marketing and get support for webOS. Currently, Palm’s store had apps for free in their app store, which was a reason for some of the excellent home-brew apps that were available to customers. Secondly, Palm’s strategic decision seems to be changing; currently the webOS was only available on the Pre and the Pixi. Unfortunately the problem with luring developers now is that the profitability factor of the Pre is compromised.
Already Apple has created a competitive situation where it has successfully captured a number of developers. By allowing developers to keep 70% of the profit margin by taking a 30% royalty along with a $99 developer fee, Apple has created a very strong incentive for developers to move to their platform – (Source). Since the success of the app along with the overall marketing push of the app is from the developer side, most of the work is done by the developer and by letting developers retain profits; they market their app themselves. Currently, Nokia, RIM, Symbian, Qualcomm all charge heavily for developers to access their OSs’ and SDKs’; in comparison to the structure offered by Apple, they are rather draconian in nature.
Apple’s commitment to quality is reflected via the total control they exercise over the submission and review of apps. Not only do they maintain a standard for apps, but similar to any licensing authority, they have the ability to screen out potentially malicious developers who could exploit the iPhone SDK and OS. In retrospect, this is probably why there have been very few security breaches on the iPhone while other developers have used financial clout to screen developers. Although in the long run, it will become difficult to screen what could be potentially millions of apps, it will at least ensure that apps available for download are safe.
Coming back to Palm, they are in a key situation where they can clearly see how draconian approaches will result in poor support for webOS or could help lure developers away from a fairly crowded market into a lucrative business venture. This is dependent on two things:
1.Palm creating a development program that provides a similar incentive to Apple’s program while streamlining the overall development process,
2.Marketing the Pre more aggressively and ensuring that consumers start to realize the full potential of the phone.
Although the Pre is exclusive to Sprint’s network, recently Verizon and Google have teamed up to launch Android compatible phones on Verizon’s network. The Pre has some serious competition now in terms of AT&T’s and iPhone alliance along with the Google-Verizon collaboration. It seems like that the Palm team is at a crossroads, a careful long-term strategic decision here can definitely change the path of the Pre and Palm’s profitability or it could doom the Pre to the depths of obscurity.
What do you think? Will Palm emulate Apple’s current market structure or will it follow the routes of RIM, Symbian and Nokia? Leave your thoughts and comments below.
