iPhone app store turns 1: Anyone making real money?
A year ago this week Apple opened the floodgates and began letting software developers sell software for the iPhone, and geeks everywhere caught iPhone fever.
Since then Apple's iTunes App Store has swelled to more than 50,000 titles, logged more than 1 billion downloads, and inspired an entrepreneurial surge that's reminiscent of the dot-com gold rush — only without the illusion that everyone is making tons of money.
In fact, aside from Apple and AT&T, it's hard to point to many folks that are raking in a pile of iPhone cash quite yet. Matt Murphy, a venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, guesses that as many as 95% of the developers building iPhone apps "aren't trying to build a company on the iPhone" — they're just hobbyists making a little money on the side, or companies using fun iPhone apps as marketing vehicles.
The world is still waiting for the equivalents of eBay, Amazon, or Yahoo — the groundbreaking new companies that will redefine and inspire the mobile ecosystem.
Not that people like Murphy are discouraged.
Full Story(AAPL) (T) (EBAY) (AMZN) (YHOO) (RIMM) (PALM) (NOK) (MOT) (MSFT)
Here we go again. First the attacks on Steve Jobs' health, implying that Apple's somehow at risk if he folds his tent. Then the "overvalued tech" attacks, implying that Apple can't sustain its sales of cutting-edge products in todays cut-rate market. And now the attack on the App Store, implying it's not really making anyone all THAT much money.
Fine. Drive the stock down. Once again, I'll take advantage of the opportunity to buy this stock on the cheap from the hooples who were panicked into selling it.
And then, when Apple yet again confounds these so-called "experts" by gaining yet more market share and turning yet another handsome profit, I'll watch my stock head right back up, as I laugh all the way to the bank!
maybe when other mobile platforms catch up to iPhone, companies will be able to make a living only on mobile development. don't hold your breath.