The iPhone Revolution - Why the iPhone is important to your business - An Australian iPhone Application Developer perspective

The iPhone is going to change the Internet landscape in a way no other technology has in the last decade.

Forget about Facebook, Twitter and other websites, this device is going to bring about change that the business community may find disruptive. In fact it is the classical disruptive technology that the Internet was so many years ago.

Read on to hear my argument as to why this device is special and how other hyped Social Network sites may just be a flash in the pan....

The importance of the iPhone

My 15 year old neice Laura just forked out $750 for an iPhone and has already chewed up half a dozen mobile phones. Laura has to go prepaid due to a few overruns on previous plans. Its a networked device so she can sit at home and run YouTube videos where ever she is around the house.

Why does a 15 year old purchase an iPhone with her own hard earned funds?
Are books becoming obsolete?
Some schools are already integrating iPhones into their systems and not providing text books. One reason for this is the unique easy reading capacity of this device. It reacts to hand movements and can be turned on its side for easier reading.

iPhone Applications

This is a very tightly controlled platform. Great for Apple who need to approve the following -:

I share an office at Griffith University with Vince. Vince is a web developer and Flash programmer who has for some time become an iPhone Application Developer. Vince saw the merits of the iPhone and started learning the Mac system and the programming required to develop iPhone applications.
Everything is totally controlled by Apple and the applications can be free or $1 or so.

Coles supermarket has an iPhone application Its free and allows you to purchase items for a specific recipe.

Samsung phones are becoming very iPhone like My Samsung phone can take photos, video, audio, email and looks very similar to an iPhone. But my neice wanted an iPhone.

Check our article on processing payments on an iphone app via a payment gateway

Adobe Flash is incorporating iPhone into CS5
The best web development suite on the planet is now including iPhone into the latest versions of their software. These are great barometers for the future as these companies need to develop to standards a few years before they become accepted.

Update Apple blocks Adobe Flash and others from creating iphone applications for the Apple istore. This is quite significant as Google Android is working in the opposite direction allowing anyone to create applications and creating a system where anyone (not necessarily a programmer) can create them.

iPhone 4 has problems

The iPhone 4 launched in the US recently has antenna reception problems. Will Apple launch the same device in Australia this month?

Twitter is great but may not survive

Everyone has their 10 cents worth on Twitter so here is mine. This semester I asked my Griffith eCommerce students to examine the following social networking sites:-

Twitter
Google - YouTube
Yahoo
Facebook
MySpace
MSN

Prior to that I asked the students to join a private Twitter group for the subject. When I sought permission from my supervisor at Griffith, Steve asked me to compile my findings on the learning experience and Twitter so every Twitter article in the Financial Review and other sources I am compelled to read.

The students (approx 100) had to analyse the sites and report on recommend which is worth investing in and justify their answer using well documented measures like SWOT analysis (its good practise to develop business and marketing plans for any website).

Google makes most of its money from search engine ads and in my opinion bought YouTube for $1.65 billion US so that no one else would get it. It was protecting its market. Yahoo and MSN are complex portals that are very sticky (hold people on their site).
MySpace is losing advertising revenue and is hemoraging to Facebook - but Facebook may not even make any profit anyway and generally once these sites try to create profit from running these massive servers and data the public jump to the next thing. They generally rely upon an advertising supported revenue model, and users often vote with their feet when they get advertised to.

Twitter if you don't know by now is a micro blog with a 140 character limit and a cute interface. It may make some revenue from sending SMS messages, but actually claims not to have any revenue model. It has had some server issues due to the volume of 'tweets'. Its great for celebrities or any company that needs to put bite sized info out and people can follow them. Interestingly our travelling pro surfers use it to communicate to their fans and it really allows you to be a part of someones life.

I am a search engine optimization specialist and my initial concern was does Twitter effect search engine rankings and if so I had better get involved. The answer is yes and no - the actual links are not passing on any value as such but any traffic on a website has a value to Google.
It has been documented that Twitter has a 40% retention rate with Facebook having massive growth at the moment. YouTube may not make any money at all either. It is predicted that eventually with a 40% retention rate Twitter will run out of people and start to decline.

Predictiing the future - the iPhone future

Why does the iPhone interest or effect your business?

As a web developer and probably like everyone else in a business we need to focus on where our best efforts should be directed. So issues like web standards, programming languages, emerging technologies need to be assessed to ensure we do not find ourselves on the scrap heap.

In 2000 I read a paper (secret I think at the time) about how Google was created and the basis of how their search algorithm worked. I started building integrating this into my websites and content management system with some amazing results. Years later the value of that research has allowed me to be very effective at the time when getting to the top of Google is well recognised as a cost effective marketing tool (now). Typically in that same time it is difficult to justify 3-5 k on a website for some clients becuase competition and perceptions are that these are now cheaper. The real cost of a dud website is another story.

Other technologies like Flash Development (the best animation software) any thing Google - Google Calendars, Google Maps, Payment Gateways are important technologies and require an understanding to give the right choices to clients.

Now I realise the benefit of marketing, and actively seek textbooks and experts on the topic. Marketing a business profitably is very important.
By now you are probably thinking this bloke is wonderful where do I buy the tickets? But the point is the iPhone is going to have an effect on us. I recommend if you have an iPhone application in mind contact Vince (mobile (+61) 0433444480) who specialises in iPhone Publishing Applications
Vince also has created the best DIY website software which is especially good for putting up a quick website at very little cost. This is Flash template software but is still effective in search engines. This starts at US $29.95 or we help for $295 or we do the lot for only $570.

One last thing, I failed to mention I am a hopeless designer, I can get inspiration from any site, fortunately one of my students has a son who is the best designer I know. I always give my clients the option of getting a design from these guys.

About the author

Philip Hoile current lectures at Griffith University in e-business advanced e-business and e-commerce. A web developer since 1996 specialising in programming Content Management Systems and combining Java, JavaScript, HTML, XML, databases and Flash into sites for existing clients. My interest in marketing stems from a desire to improve client outcomes.

Email Phil
or phone (07) 55320651