http://billingonmobile.com/2009/05/13/is-the-app-store-bubble-about-to-burst.html What matters in mobile billing Fri, 30 Jul 2010 11:51:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 http://billingonmobile.com/2009/05/13/is-the-app-store-bubble-about-to-burst.html/comment-page-1#comment-165 Passer By Thu, 14 May 2009 13:54:32 +0000 http://billingonmobile.com/?p=296#comment-165 What a self-serving article. You can't take the truth. Apple is eating your lunch. No developer in their right minds is developing for any other platform. The air is being sucked out of the room. What a self-serving article. You can’t take the truth. Apple is eating your lunch. No developer in their right minds is developing for any other platform. The air is being sucked out of the room.

]]> http://billingonmobile.com/2009/05/13/is-the-app-store-bubble-about-to-burst.html/comment-page-1#comment-162 Paul Thu, 14 May 2009 08:31:18 +0000 http://billingonmobile.com/?p=296#comment-162 While John Strand has a point about the apple apps store, it is worth bearing in mind that (1) it is only one of the proposed myriad apps stores that will soon be out there; (2) it is very very early days in terms of uptake of apps stores -- its all very explorative at the moment; (3) If you get the right app -- such as the some what prosaic iFart – you can make as much as $5000 a day; (4) the Apple apps store has done something far more important than make money, it has created (possibly) a whole new route to market for brands, content owners, SPs and so on that by pass operators (largely) -- it is also a boon for alternative billing providers; (5) There is also the possibility of adding premium content and services within apps to increase their value, customer stickiness, shelf life and revenue generating potential (as I said, we are at the very beginning of the apps model) (see http://twitter.com/MobileMktg/status/1785747410). There are of course problems with apps and the apps model -- it is just a walled content garden and in that regard something of a retrograde step. But, it has wrestled the control of content services and, most importantly, the billing from network operators. They are also such large walled gardens that one could wonder whether it really matters -- the choice of product is there if you go looking for it, so its kind of more open (or at least appears to be). The other really interesting issue is that it has inspired everyone. I was at a banking conference earlier this week (with a different hat on) and the iPhone and apps were mentioned in almost every sessions as to how it had changed consumer views of what they could do with mobile and what corporates could do with mobile and apps to make consumers stickier. Whatever the initial revenue generation numbers are, this is only the start and we will see, I believe, the apps model mutate to become the content, service and marketing delivery mechanism of choice. I also think that once it has location added to it it will really become interesting and will be able to charge a premium for content. While John Strand has a point about the apple apps store, it is worth bearing in mind that (1) it is only one of the proposed myriad apps stores that will soon be out there; (2) it is very very early days in terms of uptake of apps stores — its all very explorative at the moment; (3) If you get the right app — such as the some what prosaic iFart – you can make as much as $5000 a day; (4) the Apple apps store has done something far more important than make money, it has created (possibly) a whole new route to market for brands, content owners, SPs and so on that by pass operators (largely) — it is also a boon for alternative billing providers; (5) There is also the possibility of adding premium content and services within apps to increase their value, customer stickiness, shelf life and revenue generating potential (as I said, we are at the very beginning of the apps model) (see http://twitter.com/MobileMktg/status/1785747410).
There are of course problems with apps and the apps model — it is just a walled content garden and in that regard something of a retrograde step. But, it has wrestled the control of content services and, most importantly, the billing from network operators. They are also such large walled gardens that one could wonder whether it really matters — the choice of product is there if you go looking for it, so its kind of more open (or at least appears to be).
The other really interesting issue is that it has inspired everyone. I was at a banking conference earlier this week (with a different hat on) and the iPhone and apps were mentioned in almost every sessions as to how it had changed consumer views of what they could do with mobile and what corporates could do with mobile and apps to make consumers stickier. Whatever the initial revenue generation numbers are, this is only the start and we will see, I believe, the apps model mutate to become the content, service and marketing delivery mechanism of choice. I also think that once it has location added to it it will really become interesting and will be able to charge a premium for content.

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