“A much-anticipated new version of the iPhone will go on sale Friday, but Apple Inc. will at the same time take the wraps off another offering that could have a more lasting impact on the mobile phone business,” Nick Wingfield reports for The Wall Street Journal.
“The Cupertino, Calif., company will open its App Store, an online bazaar that will attempt to do for mobile applications like games, reference guides and other software what Apple’s iTunes Store has done for music. Software developers and analysts say Apple’s method of distributing mobile applications — along with sophisticated capabilities of the iPhone — represent one of the most ambitious efforts yet to refashion mobile phones into something closer to personal computers,” Wingfield reports.
“In an interview, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs said he believes the iPhone represents a rare launch of a new computing ‘platform,’ as evidenced by a rush of iPhone software development by other companies. He said past efforts by rivals to establish new mobile software platforms resulted in mostly anemic applications,” Wingfield reports.
“The App Store will be an icon on the home screen of every iPhone, and some 500 applications will be available on Friday from companies like Facebook, eBay Inc., America Online, Sega and Bloomberg. About a quarter of those applications will be free to download, and of the rest, 90% will cost $10 or less, Mr. Jobs said,” Wingfield reports.
“Apple has said it will take a 30% cut of the sales for iPhone applications, leaving 70% for developers. Mr. Jobs doesn’t expect Apple to make much money off the App Store once the costs of running it are deducted, though he hopes it will boost iPhone sales. ‘I think it will generate a lot of revenue, but not much profit,’ he said,” Wingfield reports.
Much more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Citymark” for the heads up.]
fuck
Balmy, is that you?
It takes your breath away.
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My thought exactly…
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@ fuck
Oh! Sorry for whatever i did to you…
Poster number one represents the comments views of execs at Microsoft, Nokia, RIM and many others…!
2.0 link
somebody???????????????????
Not much profit? Maybe not at first but once the start up costs are covered it’s going to be almost pure profit! It cost very little to maintain an online store and I’m sure that Apple will have an automated way to check the software it carries.
What Jobs means is that they aren’t going to make the 40% plus margins that Apple is use to getting.
@Greg M
Please provide link to “What Jobs means is that they aren’t going to make the 40% plus margins that Apple is use to getting.”
Wouldn’t it be interesting if Apple stores, over the next 5-10 years became veritable “Best Buys”, specializing in a wide range of computer and personal electronics products, except Windows – I mean they would even sell Windows, but you’d have to ask for it at the counter because they would not dedicate any shelf space to it. Oh, and any questions you will have about Windows will be met with shoulder shrugging and the ever insightful, “I’m not sure…”. Of course if it’s Tuesday there will sometimes be a sneaker-clad-MS-initiated in-store representative who will be expert at answering most questions you may have about the paleozoic OS, but he won’t really be that busy because no one goes into an Apple store to buy Windows anyway, so he eventually stops showing up and the five or six boxes of ‘doze that the Apple store keeps in stock just gather dust for the next ten years – The approximate length of time it takes Windows to make a major OS revision.
Yep, that’ll be the day.
No, what Jobs means is that the store will be running very close to non-profit. Bandwith cost money, so do all the developers who will be improving the store and fixing bugs and security threats.
This will be much like the music: Apple doesn’t make barely any money but it helps ensure that people buy the hardware where they make huge profits.
The iPhone is now officially *the* mobile computing platform…
disguised as a phone & an iPod.
I love it.
They will make loads of money. Tommorrow I will spend some 200€ to get all kinds of software to my iPhone. Apple will cut 60€ from it. I know that you will make the same.
I think AppleDailyNews is available. I suggest you purchase it.
Why not extend the store to apps for the Mac and not just the iPhone.
One place to share and buy applications, knowing there is some sort of quality control, even if they are free.
If you have ever tried adding and removing apps in Ubuntu 8, you will know how easy it is. Extend the idea to the Mac and suddenly Windows seems even older.
OMG, the appstore is amazing. I don’t even have the 2.0 software yet but I already downloaded 19 free apps. AIM, Facebook, Pandora (awesome), Movies, Weatherbug, eReader (books cost .99, say goodnight kindle), Baseball (all baseball stats from 1871 to 2007), and I have barely scratched the surface. This is HUGE. I don’t know about enterprise, but all other consumer smartphones are dead.
MDN Magic Word: This “might” be the best day of my life, and Apple’s.
@ Nutcracker – If you think about it…
The Mac is now officially *the* mobile computing platform…
disguised as a phone & an iPod.
I love it.
@dd & nutcracker…
I guess you could be literal and say OS X is the RR of the desktop and now now officially “the” mobile platform…
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Windows mobile is a complete joke compared to it.
@British Mac Head
I’ll accept that.
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So what are your guesses on actual release of OSX for iPhone 2.0 guys?
I’m thinking tomorrow at 6.0pm GMT!
Whenever it is I can’t wait…
It’s gonna be the longest day in history for us waiting to get this update.
@www.thefreemac.com,
“Why not extend the store to apps for the Mac and not just the iPhone.”
They already have it. It’s called the downloads section of Apple’s website.
Feel that? Its the Earth turning on its axis. Today is just that huge.
This expected action is fantastic for Apple. Analysts who don’t understand are yawning and the stock is languishing. Company fundamentals are lost on them. Buying opportunity.
Hasn’t anyone noted that the link to the original article is wrong? The right one is this:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121565491776341571.html?mod=2_1571_topbox
If only the original Mac had as many developers writing software for it.
This should be fun!