Posted on 07/02/2009 8:01:34 PM PDT by Blue Highway
In Malcolm Gladwell’s review of Chris Anderson’s new book, “Free: The Future of a Radical Price,” he said that Apple will soon be making more money from iPhone downloads than it does from the iPhone itself.
He said this to make a point that businesses can still be successful charging for content. But a quick glance at the iPhone’s numbers show that he may have been a little too hasty in his assertion.
By “iPhone downloads,” Gladwell is probably referring to the software programs that people download from Apple’s App Store, which offers a selection of more than 50,000 applications, including games, entertainment and news.
The store’s success is indisputable. The broad selection of apps is a major reason why consumers want the iPhone. In April, Apple announced that the number of downloads exceeded a billion, less than a year after the App Store opened.
But a bigger moneymaker than the iPhone itself?
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.wsj.com ...
Why is this article compare the profit Apple makes from selling apps, to the revenue it generates from selling the phones?
We have friends who recently developed an app that’s amazing. I don’t know if they’ve gone live with it yet, so I’d better not say what it is, LOL. But you have all these people with ideas for apps, they develop them, and make money for themselves (and Apple) just from their inventive applications. Good old fashioned capitalism!
I've not really been impressed with ITunes altogether. It really needs more suggestions or references when one find a category or album they lack. I'm wholey unimpressed by the Latin (Brasilian) selection, I think my grandma would have thought it was old. Spanish music OTOH ius pretty good there. Then again, I'm finding out that there's this thing called "American Culture" that's pretty dominent outside of South Florida.
I like the Iphone so much, after buying it for my wife we've found it to be an indispensible tool with the proper apps. I may buy one myself. The "Talk Radio" app will let you stream conservative radio shows from whereever they are airing. Might be worth upgrading to the family plan.
They were making the case that theoretically a company can make more from the apps they sell for the phone than the phones themselves.
Apple has all the major labels on board, so if a specific artist or song is missing, blame the smaller holdout labels for not signing a deal.
Check out the iheartradio app, I find it to be the best app of its kind available on the iPhone. It’s also free, and covers more types of radio than just talk radio.
Hope they make tons of money. When it comes available I will be interested.
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