Tone up your apps
Here’s a question: can you name a Nokia phone? No? How about a Sony Ericsson? Still blank? Samsung? LG? HTC? Try another question: what’s the first (and, perhaps, only) brand to come into your head when the term ‘touchscreen phone’ is mentioned? For most people, there is only one answer: iPhone.
Within three years of its launch, the iPhone has become not just the world’s most famous mobile phone, but an icon. Far from being just for geeks, the gadget now tops gift wishlists for men and women, children and grandparents, of all backgrounds and ability levels.
‘‘You can’t really go wrong with it,” says Anne O’Donnell, director of Giftslikethese.ie, an Irish-based gifts website. ‘‘Men like it for its gadget and web appeal, while women like it for its looks. It’s one of the few gadgets you can actually buy for a woman without her throwing it back in your face.”
Until recently, its wide appeal had been attributed to sleek design, an on-board iPod and an easy-to-use touchscreen system. In other words, it was just a fancy phone.
But last year, Apple turned the device – and the entire mobile phone industry – on its head. It launched an online software store called the App Store. The store began stocking hundreds (now tens of thousands) of games, work accessories, travel tools and other programs that could be downloaded directly to the phone.
But, far from being a recipe for ringtones and celebrity wallpapers, the applications included sophisticated tracking devices, transportation timetables, internet phone call programs and other useful things. Virtually overnight, the App Store changed the nature of the iPhone from a fancy phone to a must-have accessory.
Even by Apple’s own standards of success – it has, so far, sold over one billion iPods and 105 million iPhones – it has been a massive hit. With over 2.5 billion downloads recorded in 15months, the number of downloads is running at 100million per week. And this is accelerating.
‘‘Apple has cornered the market in mobile applications after just a few months,” says Steve McCormack, chief executive of Wildwave, a company that specialises in mobile entertainment software. ‘‘It’s almost an exact copy of what happened when it launched iTunes. While the rest of the industry dawdled over whether or not it was a good idea, Apple grabbed all the action. It has reinvented the wheel. The other manufacturers are trying to catch up, but they’re probably too late.”
Applications – or ‘apps’ as they are called – mostly cost from€1to €3 each. The most downloaded apps – such as music program Shazam or internet telephone program Skype – are free.
Irish interest in iPhone apps has exploded in the past six months. From a modest beginning of a few people programming in their bedrooms, there are now over 100 established iPhone software developers creating apps in Ireland. Some, such as Dublin based Steven Troughton-Smith, have made approximately €10,000 for some applications.
‘‘The iPhone is not a computer,” says Troughton-Smith. ‘‘In fact, it’s usually used for 30 seconds before being put back in a pocket, unless it’s a game. You have to make sure your project idea is flexible enough to work with such limitations.”
Like other developers, Troughton-Smith makes money from iPhone apps through a combination of donations and Apple’s profitsharing system. For every €1s pent on an app downloaded from the App Store, Apple keeps 30 cent and gives 70 cent to the developer.
The growing body of Irish iPhone programming expertise has led to the formation of an Irish caucus of developers. Calling itself X-Cake, it operates using its website, www.apps.ie. Dermot Daly, chief executive of Tapadoo, is the developer responsible for organising the caucus.
‘‘Basically, we’re a group of individuals working together in these tough times to collectively raise sales,” he says. ‘‘We’ve got ourselves organised enough to put together a website which showcases iPhone applications made in Ireland. It showcases work done in Ireland, and it also showcases applications which would be of interest to Irish people, or to visitors who might find the phone book app, or bus and train timetable apps, handy.”
Far from being just a consumer bauble, the iPhone is starting to find its way into the business world, too. Next month, a new device will be launched which will pair with the iPhone to create a credit card reader.
Capable of reading smartcards and accepting Pin numbers, the gadget will prove a popular device for small merchants looking to expand their payment acceptance methods.
In the US, the iPhone has already become a device for small businesses to accept payments. Several applications and devices have appeared on the market, from a plug-in gadget (called Squared) which swipes cards to software apps (such as Innerface and Authorize.net) which process credit card details using the card’s number and expiry date.
Not all iPhone apps are wholesome or helpful, however. Despite rigid control and approval by Apple, objectionable ‘games’ sometimes make it through. The most controversial of these was the game ‘Baby Shaker’, released in April this year. The game involved shaking the iPhone rigorously until the baby stopped crying. Following hundreds of complaints, the game was withdrawn.
In general, Apple will not allow sexual content (including scantily-clad models) into its App Store. It rejected an app called ‘Newspapers’ because, in addition to full versions of Le Monde and the New York Times, it included the page three section of the Sun. The app was only permitted when the app developer removed the Sun from the mix.
A few weeks ago, Pepsi launched a controversial app called Amp Up Before You Score.
It offered a guide to different types of women and the appropriate chat-up lines to use in order to successfully ‘score’. For example, for a woman who has recently broken up with someone (‘‘the rebound girl’’), it advises bringing her to the local ice cream store.
It also offered a ‘scorecard’ to keep track of which girls the man manages to bed. Finally, it provided a feature to link up with social networking sites such as Facebook to brag about which women the user had ‘scored’. The application was withdrawn within a few days, following hundreds of complaints.
Religion is also something of which Apple is wary. An innocuous app called ‘Me So Holy’, which allowed users to place a photo of themselves within an image of Jesus, Mary or other religious figures, was rejected by Apple.
The company said that it reserved the right to refuse apps which might offend people based on religious grounds.
Apps vary from the sublime to the silly.
Much of the publicity surrounding the first batch of apps concerned downloads such as iBeer or I Am Rich. With iBeer, when you tilt your iPhone over, a virtual beer ‘pours’ itself, with its level gradually getting lower and lower.
The ‘I Am Rich’ app did absolutely nothing except display the words ‘‘I Am Rich’’. It cost €800.Amazingly, eight people bought it before the app was pulled, 24 hours after going live.
In Ireland, RTE is aiming to launch its first iPhone app shortly, which will largely reproduce content from its website, including news headlines and video bulletins. Both Newstalk and Today FM have created iPhone apps to facilitate a larger audience for their programming, while the Munster Express is the first newspaper to have gone online with an iPhone app.
