Should Internet Marketers Be Making iPhone Apps?
By Anna Johnson on March 14th, 2009If you have an idea for a great iPhone application… what are you waiting for? iPhone applications are HOT right now.
Everyone I know who has an iPhone (and I know quite a few people with an iPhone) seems to be addicted to downloading iPhone apps.
That would include my husband who has bought everything from fitness tracking apps to digital fish bowls to games for our kids.
And he only got his iPhone a couple of weeks ago!
(Actually, I don’t know who uses his iPhone more – my husband or my six year old who manages to get up before her dad each morning so she can check the weather… and play a Tinkerbell game or two.)
It turns out that my family is typical of millions of people around the world. As reported by TD Daily, there are at least 23 million active iPhones and nearly 27,000 applications now available from Apple’s App Store. The number of apps has risen dramatically since the 15,000 reported by Apple just a couple of months ago in January 2009.
As TD Daily points out, more apps have been developed for the iPhone than the 20,000 or so apps that have been developed for the Windows Mobile platform. And it took 9 years for all those Windows applications to be created.
No question, iPhone users are eager to download cool iPhone applications right now. And at the typical price of a few bucks each, they’re not worrying too much about the cost. (Although you can imagine that all those costs mount up… can’t wait to see our bill!)
Some iPhone applications will be more popular than others, of course. With 27,000 applications (and growing) available, it’s likely that: (a) a lot of them fall by the wayside, and (b) the production values and standard of quality expected by users will continue to rise.
But if you have a great idea, and can execute that idea, now is the time to get it done… not when there are 127,000 applications all vying for attention!
March 16th, 2009 at 7:08 am
iPhone apps are great for marketers. The number of apps available does not matter in many cases. An app can be built for your company to use or that of your customers. The apps are “sold” on your website. Downloaded at iTunes or Blackberry’s App World. Every time someone downloads one of your apps, they have a unique way to interact with your company. Think about the possibilities.
At Zap Bang Done, we have built apps for large and small companies and I would say that a good half of them do not care about the app store distribution. They are using iPhone and Blackberry apps to communicate with their customers, affiliates and business associates in a new and unique way.
March 16th, 2009 at 7:42 am
Thanks for your contribution Bill. Yes, it should also be noted that marketers don’t have to program these things themselves. You can hire app builders to create an app for you.