Who would have predicted this: 16 months after its introduction the iPhone is #1 in sales in the US displacing the RAZR, beating Windows Mobile in smartphone sales and still going strong. Now, we learn there is no bubble of interest in the iPhone applications that can run on the phone, demand continues to grow.
“It’s unbelievable,” says Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster. “It’s a differentiator. We think in ’09, it’s going to be a $1 billion market place and Apple will probably take about 30 percent of that. There’s virtually no operating expense for them. They just approve the apps. It increases our confidence that” Apple can make these numbers.
For those slow at math like me, that is $300 million Apple will make off the app store by doing nothing than keeping the electricity on for the servers to hum. If I were Steve Jobs, Apple’s #1 man, I’d sit next to the servers and laugh demonically. Maybe he does that, I won’t judge.
But what intrigues me is the community Apple is building around the phone. Lately, big businesses are creating iPhone apps to reach customers. Obama had his iPhone app (I’ll refrain from suggesting it is what won him the election). If everyone and everything is on the iPhone, why get any other phone?
And this could lead to my very favorite thing: car integration. Yes, the BMW has iPod integration, but I want to dock my iPod on the dash, charge/play/talk/navigate etc. all on the iPod all at the same time. All these users and infrastructure could give folks the inclination to help integrate the iPhone into our car. I am tired of the wires, hokey docks, too few cigarette lighters, blah blah blah.
This stone is rolling and continues to pick up steam. It is only going to go faster if Wal-Mart really does have a $99 iPhone up its sleeves.
Read [CNBC]
iPhone is surely one of the best mobiles on the market. Not due to specifications but due to supreme UI.