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iPad attracts developers to App Store, distracts from rival markets

The launch of the iPad is helping Apple's iTunes App Store to retain developers' interest while preventing them from exploring alternative marketplaces for mobile software.

A report by the Wall Street Journal cited Social Gaming Network, an App Store developer, as saying that 90% of its employees were currently working on iPhone OS apps.

The fact that RIM, Palm, Microsoft, and Google have also opened their own mobile application stores has not automatically created the same level of success. "You have to choose your battles wisely," SGN chief executive Shervin Pishewar told the Journal.

The new iPad, the Journal said, "is boosting developer interest in Apple's store because the device is set to expand the audience for apps and paves the way for developers to introduce new innovations."

iPad + iPod touch + iPhone

Analysts are estimating Apple will sell anywhere between 5 to 10 million iPad units in its first year. Those numbers will add to the existing installed base of iPhone OS devices, which now number more than 70 million.

Just as the iPod touch has served to bolster Apple's software position on the iPhone in a way that rival smartphones can't match, the iPad will also expand the App Store reach and level of sophistication in ways that rivals' tablet devices won't.

Google hopes to release tablet-form factor devices later this year using the Chrome OS, reliant upon both web apps and Flash content. But Chrome OS won't run today's existing Android apps.

Similarly, Microsoft has floated Tablet PC, UMPC and most recently Slate PC designs, but these are all based on its desktop Windows platform, and don't support either its now mothballed Windows Mobile 6.x platform of mobile apps nor its planned Windows Phone 7 devices designed to run Silverlight and Flash apps.

Microsoft's futuristic Courier product concept is expected to one day merge with WP7 and the Zune HD to result in a cohesive development strategy like the one Apple created with iPhone 2.0 back in 2008, but even if that can happen by early next year, it will be years late to the App Store party.

Problems facing alternative mobile software markets

Palm's webOS launched its mobile software Catalog last year, but that was still too late to attract enthusiasm from many developers. Google's Android Marketplace opened back in 2008 just a few months after Apple launched the App Store, but even it has seen a difficult time keeping pace with Apple's level of interested users and developers.

In addition to having failed to capitalize on the importance of building out an application strategy early and comprehensively, other platform vendors have also made it much more difficult for their developers to build apps that can run seamlessly on their products.

The Journal noted, "Apple's devices also have key features that help play up apps, such as high-quality color touch-screens, accelerometers and relatively fast processors." While many Android phones offer fancy hardware features, each new model introduces a new mix of specifications in terms of screen resolution, processor speed and available hardware features. This complicates the task of building apps that work and look good across all those devices.

Many Android phones (as well as smartphones from other alternative platforms) are also stuck running the version of the OS they shipped with, thanks to apathetic mobile operators who lose interest in supporting upgrades after making the sale, if not for actual limitations in the hardware that make upgrades impossible.

Even developers who sell their apps across a wide number of platforms focus their attention on the iPhone. The Journal cited Pandora Media's chief strategy officer Tim Westergren, who sells a version of his company's Internet radio app for Android, Palm's webOS, and RIM's BlackBerry in addition to the iPhone, as noting that his company gets almost a third of its new registrations from the iPhone, even though iPhone 3.0 currently prevents Pandora from running in the background.

Despite that hurdle and the interest other platforms are making for his attention, Westergren told the Journal, "if there's a new opportunity on the iPhone, we would prioritize it."

35 Comments

quadra 610 17 Years · 6687 comments

Apple has this market all figured out and locked up for the next 5 years, at least.

the madcapper 16 Years · 21 comments

Now if only we developers could trust Apple to not destroy our companies on a whim, using private APIs and their "War Chest" funding, then we'd all be a lot happier, and feel more secure.

"Word Processing? *WHAM* MARKET DEAD! Spreadsheets? *WHAM* MARKET DEAD! Presentation Software? *WHAM* MARKET DEAD! Voice Memos? *WHAM* MARKET DEAD! eBooks? *WHAM* MARKET DEAD!" (And along with them go about a dozen+ startups each, along with their employees / jobs)

spoton 15 Years · 587 comments

Quote:
The launch of the iPad is helping Apple's iTunes App Store to retain developers' interest while preventing them from exploring alternative marketplaces for mobile software.


Well Apple does cater to the high end of the computer user spectrum.

Take a look at this:

Quote:
?Thirty-six percent of Apple computer owners reported household incomes greater than $100,000, compared to 21 percent of all consumers. ?With a higher household income, though, it?s not a surprise that those consumers are making more electronics purchases,? Baker said. ?The average Apple household owns 48 CE devices whereas the average computer household owns about 24. Apple household owners? actions and purchases can be used by the industry as leading indicators for hot new products and adoption.?


http://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_091005.html

Phil Schiller stated that the consumer market is more than 50% of the total market, and that's why Apple is a consumer products company.

It just makes sense for software developers of consumer software to spend their energies in the smaller, higher end market first, then take what's successful there and apply it to the rest.

The rest of the consumer smart phone market in my opinion is rather fragmented. Apple makes just one iPhone, although I think it would be good if they made three models.

elmcityweb 15 Years · 109 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by Quadra 610

Apple has this market all figured out and locked up for the next 5 years, at least.


I agree, Apple will be one of the tablet heavyweights for many years to come. As with the iPhone, the iPad will be a homerun. It's not for everybody, but I know I want one.

mdriftmeyer 21 Years · 7395 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Madcapper

Now if only we developers could trust Apple to not destroy our companies on a whim, using private APIs and their "War Chest" funding, then we'd all be a lot happier, and feel more secure.

"Word Processing? *WHAM* MARKET DEAD! Spreadsheets? *WHAM* MARKET DEAD! Presentation Software? *WHAM* MARKET DEAD! Voice Memos? *WHAM* MARKET DEAD! eBooks? *WHAM* MARKET DEAD!" (And along with them go about a dozen+ startups each, along with their employees / jobs)

Word Processing? MS Office. Spreadsheets? MS Office. Presentation Software? MS Office.

All competing against iWorks for iPad.

eBooks? Write a damn novel. Write a more media rich Reader. Work on a solution for Marvel or graphic novels.

Do people have to give you business ideas in order for you to make a living?