Apple To Preview iPhone Software Next Week

[SteveW]

Apple To Preview iPhone Software Next Week

Key to the iPhone's success has been the applications offered through the company's App store, which launched last July.

By Reuters
InformationWeek
March 12, 2009 07:46 PM

SAN FRANCISCO - Apple Inc will hold an event next Tuesday to preview new software for the iPhone, the company said.

Apple said in an email invitation Thursday that it will provide a "sneak peek" at the iPhone 3.0 software, along with information about the new software kit that third-party vendors use to create applications for the device.

The company will host the event at its corporate campus in Cupertino, California, on March 17.

Apple released its 3G iPhone last summer and the device proved to be an immediate hit with consumers. Apple sold 6.9 million devices in the September quarter and 4.3 million in the December quarter.

The iPhone is one of Apple's main engines for growth. Over the course of 2008, the company sold over 13.7 million iPhones, ahead of its 10 million target.

Key to the iPhone's success has been the applications offered through the company's App store, which launched last July. The store features a wide array of programs, some for free and some for a fee.

In January, Apple said more than 500 million applications had been downloaded and that more than 15,000 apps were available.

Shares of Apple rose $3.07, or 3.3 percent, to $95.75 in early afternoon trading on the Nasdaq. (Reporting by Gabriel Madway; editing by Gunna Dickson)



SW

[SteveW]

I had forgotten that the iPhone App Store only opened last July. I went back and read some articles about it. At the launch of the App Store, Steve Jobs said there were 500 applications available. Of course, this was largely the result of Apple working with developers in the months leading up to the launch. All software companies do this type of thing when they are releasing a new platform or technology that they want developers to support (Microsoft is particularly good at it). 500 apps was a reasonable number. But to go from that to 15,000 apps and 500 million downloads in 8 months is amazing.

How long did it take the Palm ecosystem to get to (an estimated) 20,000 apps? Something like a decade. And 500 million downloads! With roughly 10 million iPhones out there, that's 50 apps downloaded per person. Wow. I have fewer than 10 3rd party apps on my Palm T2 that I've used since 2003. I think I've downloaded around the same number for my Android G1. Now I know that a lot of those 15,000 apps are games, but still, the speed of the iPhone's rise, and the level of developer support is remarkable. Android, WinMobile, Palm webOS and Symbian are all trying to be on the same playing field, but these numbers (along with the Gartner numbers) show that in terms of growth, they are nowhere close.



SW