Why Apple’s new iPhone/iPod touch platform will be a hit

Thursday, June 5, 2008 · 12:49 pm · 13 Comments

“Some of the most important products Apple CEO Steve Jobs will demo [on Monday] won’t be made by Apple — they’ll be software apps created by other companies for the new iPhone/iPod touch platform,” Dan Frommer writes for Silicon Alley Insider.

“Why is the iPhone platform so important? Because it’s the first mainstream mobile software platform with a centralized app store, a purchasing system iTunes users are already accustomed to (and are already signed up for), and a user-friendly installation system. Because of this, we think the iPhone has the chance to be the first phone [for which] most users — not just a few — buy, install, and use third-party software,” Frommer writes.

“We think Apple’s mobile platform will be a hit. We think a lot of people will buy a lot of software for their phones, and that with a thriving apps platform, Apple will sell a lot more iPhones than they’d be able to without it,” Frommer writes.

Full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Patrice" for the heads up.]

Categories: All Sites, News

13 Comments

Randian

Thursday, June 5, 2008 - 1:00 pm · Reply

From Dan’s lips to Gawd’s ears!

Predrag

Thursday, June 5, 2008 - 1:01 pm · Reply

The incredibly foreign concept of ‘The Whole Widget’. And after all these years, it is still only Apple who knows how to do it.

Rob

Thursday, June 5, 2008 - 1:11 pm · Reply

All I want is Terminal (and ssh)
And Skype

Ampar

Thursday, June 5, 2008 - 1:23 pm · Reply

“All I want is Terminal (and ssh)”

It’s possible that someone is working on it:
http://code.google.com/p/mobileterminal/

And ssh:
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/07/23/ssh-on-iphone/

And even Skype:
http://s4iphone.com/index_iphone.jsp

But approved apps from the App Store will be better.

Jubei

Thursday, June 5, 2008 - 1:33 pm · Reply

According to Krakow its all no good without Windows Mobile or BB running it. Ahahahahaha… yeah right.

MacHolyCow

Thursday, June 5, 2008 - 1:57 pm · Reply

@Jubei – oh my gosh. I read that too. Absolutely amazing. That guys should be FIRED! But the ones who hired him are just as clueless.

Rudge

Thursday, June 5, 2008 - 2:18 pm · Reply

Wow! For a minute there, I thought this was going to be about what the proposed new features the iPhone 2.0 was going to offer. I’m so sick of reading the rumors. Windows Switchers, iPhone users and new Macintosh users are just figuring out that the rumors aren’t true until Steve Jobs tells us that they are.

However, Dan Frommer is correct. I agree with him, that these new 3rd party software applications will be a big hit with people who want more from their iPhone, or iPod Touch. I wish all of these developers the very best of luck with their work.

Bob Dobbs

Thursday, June 5, 2008 - 2:26 pm · Reply

I agree. This conference is about SOFTWARE, and this will remain the big differentiator for the iPhone. Someone can clone hardware by reverse engineering. But they can’t clone the OS. And the combination of the OS, the hardware advances, 3G, a development environment and available venture funding to the iPhone, which is already wildly popular, and is about to be in over 70 countries, will be too hard to resist. If you’re a competitor, Monday will be a very bad day.

All this leads me to one big unanswered question that needs to be asked about the next generation iPhone:

Will it blend?

My 2 Cents

Thursday, June 5, 2008 - 2:46 pm · Reply

… and Steve Ballmer is waiting in the wings with his checkbook, still having a positive balance after being rejected by Yahoo!… ready to buy up the companies making the coolest apps… Just like he did with Bungie after it showed the Halo demo at an Apple event/conference.

They can’t innovate so this is how they will compete. That’s my prediction.

iWill

Thursday, June 5, 2008 - 2:58 pm · Reply

Quoting KPCB partner and iFund manager John Doerr:

“We’re witnessing history, the iPhone as a new platform is bigger than the personal computer.”

Wow.

M.X.N.T.4.1.

Thursday, June 5, 2008 - 3:49 pm · Reply

It makes you wonder why they don’t have an app store for the Mac itself.

Ampar

Thursday, June 5, 2008 - 4:35 pm · Reply

“It makes you wonder why they don’t have an app store for the Mac itself.”

1. Go here in Safari;
http://store.apple.com/us

2. Click on the Apple logo in the address bar and drag it to the desktop.

3. Rename the Apple Store (U.S.) – Welcome to the Apple Store.webloc file to Apps Store.webloc

4. There is no step 4!

bizlaw

Thursday, June 5, 2008 - 6:01 pm · Reply

Hey Frommer, don’t be afraid to go out on a limb there. Predicting that the iPhone/iPod Touch’s new SDK will open the door to all kinds of cool new apps is pretty much not a prediction, but a fact isn’t it? After all, several apps have already been announced as being readied for release, and since Steve demo’d various apps earlier this year, I’d say Frommer is just regurgitating old news.

I do wish people would just not write something right before a major Apple event if they don’t have anything new to write about. It’s getting a bit old.