1. Have an already established brand in other platforms
2. Be first in some area (too late now)
3. Somehow establish critical mass of users to have a lot of reviews/downloads. Lot's of reviews - top ratings - lts of eyeballs.
4. Have an app that people show to each other and thus make it popular (like a fun game).
5. Have some really unique features (they will get duplicated though)
For example, there is about a dozen apps for managing passwords (with encryption to protect against loss of the iphone). The three that have most reviews, and thus are most popular, are the ones that have estalished brands on Palm, Windows Mobile or Desktop Mac (eWallet, SplashId and 1Password). Others are lingering around (like my Memengo Wallet) with hardly any attention at all. I expect a race to the bottom with brand-names standing on their customer loyalty and thus selling for small sum aroud $3 while no-names will go for free.
Which brings me to the point I wanted to make here: writing software is easier than making people use it, even if Apple handles the sales transactions.
I don't think that will be true. Ever. You can always innovate.There are always new things to do. Or old things to do in new ways. Or so says the idealist in me.
But your other points are really good, especially the marketing one. Just making a very solid app isn't good enough for the iPhone platform. You need a carefully thought out marketing strategy.
Edit: I guess the marketing part is true about everything you do.
Someone told me "You have limited time to make money". Does that time give you enough money? Or can you add another unique feature in that time? I'd like a business that lasts for all time - like coke/wrigley - but technology revolutions make it impossible. However, it is possible win one revolution...
Unmet demand is the incentive for copying - without oxygen, no competitor can beat you. Do you neglect, alienate or reject any market segment who wants/needs your product (including being too expensive)? Do any aspects of your product (including links in the chain of purchase) turn off customers?
For online software, lots of clever people can reverse engineer it; and customers can learn about it, trial it, adopt it and integrate with their lives/businesses. These are buffers, not "barriers to entry". It takes some time, but doesn't stop competitors - if there is unmet demand.
The best way to stop your competitors from serving your customers... is to serve your customers.
Features are not a sustainable advantage, only temporary.
- there's always a "blue ocean" where you can innovate - read up on The Intersection (The Medici Effect)
We're (I have 4 kids) moving to the other side of the continent in a few weeks, so things are likely to be on hold until we're done.
I have no connections to Apple or any Apple development companies. So it looks like they are finally allowing normal devs in.
I wonder if someone could make an auction site for that? Or is that explicitly forbidden?
This means that even though the early apps will have a definite advantage, there will always be an opportunity to make a 'better' tip calculator (contrived example) and new opportunities will open up as the platform matures.
IMHO, iPhone apps are a much bigger deal than facebook apps since all the latter seem to do these days is clutter your profile and make you waste time.
So, honestly, go out there, 1. find a problem (like mass transit directions) 2. solve it with an iPhone app. 3. PROFIT !!!
> like mass transit directions
The problem with that is the (potential) specificity for a town, which dilutes the user numbers. I'm not sure how many I could get here in Munich where I can test it on a daily basis. Any New Yorkers have ideas for how such a service should work for their city?
I'm a big fan of the really slick side-scrolling shooters (think R-Type), but my biggest influence for this is my favourite Vic=20 game, Astroblitz. It's also a good excuse for me to get my pencils out and get some artwork happening - something else I used to love doing but haven't for years.
So, my motivation is pretty personal, and if it turns out anyone else likes my game too, that's a (quite nice) bonus.
If software writers are "authors", then it makes sense to have a "publisher". Surely there's a reason this hasn't taken off before...
1. Streamlined distribution. The app store makes it super easy for anyone to download applications from anywhere in the world. With 8 million sold worldwide X the amount of bored people trying to kill time by finding a new toy = a lot of users and downloads. In fact, the iPhone store had over 25 million downloads in the first month.
2. MONEY! Since iTunes has already a well established user base that has grown accustom to micro transactions for things like songs and videos, they're more conducive to impulse buying.
3. A REAL operating system. While the mobile platform has inherent disadvantages like screen real estate and control, it makes up for it by providing a sandboxed platform that has real power over the whole system.
There are still lines for the iPhone at my local Apple Store in the Woodlands mall, and I am one of the few people at my company that has an iPhone, and we are an IT consultancy.
The iPhone has not yet taken off.
Things are going to get a lot hotter.
