I wondered when the App Store would produce a hit so huge that it would crossover into a cultural phenomenon. It seems that time is now, and the characters in the the limelight will be the fierce and feathered Angry Birds.
Variety reports that the developers at Rovio have been in talks with Hollywood executives about expanding the iPhone success of Angry Birds to the next level. The following is from the original article...
The Wall Street Journal has an article about the possibility of advertisements hitting the pages of iBooks. This annoying idea is purely speculation but nevertheless worth a thought considering Apple's newest creation, iAds.
Books as an advertising platform would have much more influence than movies or television since readers typically reread a novel over the course of many years. iBooks would be around as long as the buyer decides to keep them on their devices, and that could be a long time considering the limited amount of space they take up.
Last week iDB reported that Apple had filed for a patent that would grant them the ability to remotely wipe and disable your iPhone. According to Mac Rumors the concerns surrounding this ability continue to grow.
The vagueness of the term "unauthorized user" combined with leery methods of detection have some users questioning the control this would give Cupertino. Facial recognition, heartbeat detection and fingerprint analysis are among the ways listed of identifying whomever is in control of the handheld in question...
Millennial Media reports that Apple's iOS is the platform of choice when it comes to advertisers. What is even more profitable is the fact that the iPhone leads all smartphones with 55% of the market on its screens.
Who says ads aren't exciting? Including all devices, Apple products sport 35% of the pie while Samsung comes in 2nd with 17%, RIM with 10% and Motorola in 4th with 9%. Let's get back to smartphones which are defined by the study as products running a recognizable operating system.
The iTunes App Store's control over developers is notoriously binding, so none of them really expected any fancy business model to emerge. Online, nobody knows you are a dog, and people are OK to pop $.99 for something with a funny name and a promising screen cap. If you actually plan to make a living from more than $5, and you're a developer and you were not one of the three games featured at the Jobsian App Store launch... Too bad!
So let's pretend you are a start-up iPhone software developing firm. Now, let's say that you have developed a hot application. So hot, that Apple actually uses it in an iPhone commercial for a nationwide marketing campaign. I mean, your foaming at the mouth trying to predict your first month sales numbers.
But, when the App store launches in July, there is another application that looks exactly like yours. What's worse is, yours cost users $2.99, and their app is a free download.
My guess is that you would be Hottrix, creators of iBeer, and you'd probably be pretty steamed.
And they are. They are suing the Molson Coors Brewing Co. for 12.5 million dollars in lost profits thanks to iPint. iPint was identical to Hottrix' iBeer, but with a Carling Beer advertisement banner.
What's funny is Steve Sheraton, inventor of iBeer, was actually approached by Beattie McGuinnes Bungay Ltd. ad agency for promission to use iBeer to market Coors products. Obviously Sheraton didn't say no loud enough, and after just a short life on the App store, iPint was removed due to a cease and desist order.
After months of trying to settle the matter outside of court, the Arizona based software company has decided to bring in the attorneys.
I believe that if there is a direct correlation between Hottix declining iBeer profits, and a copyright law broken by Molson Coors, this should be a no brainer.
One thing is clear, as Sebastien stated in his Tap Tap Tap divorce article, this iPhone software developing game is "serious business."(now accepting applications for my new start-up iPhone software company ;op)
Tap Tap Tap, the company behing the Where To" application is splitting up. I think they were not able to agree on the direction the business should take. It sounds pretty familiar as the Tapulous team is having the same issues right now.
While most of Tap Tap Tap's assets are going to be split between the 2 main owners. However, they are putting their top seller application Where To? for sale. Considering that Where To? already sold for over $200,000 in less than 3 months, the final sale price could go well over $1,000,000.
Mark Milian from the LA Times says:
Software development for the iPhone is serious business. In just three months, we've heard a number of success stories from independent developers, such as the Trism game netting $250,000 in profit in a couple months or rock band Nine Inch Nails striking up a licensing deal with the Tap Tap Revenge game developer, Tapulous.
It is indeed a serious business. I was even considering creating a new section called "iPhone Business" on this blog. Do you think I should proceed?