News
COMMENT: The only way is app (Store)
ME Staff Aug 18 2008, 2:34pm
ME exec ed Tim Green says T-Mobile USA's adoption of an 'App Store' model is a brave but perilous undertaking.
When iPhone was launched, there was much talk of how it would transform the handset space. Undoubtedly it’s had an effect, not least in the touchscreen area, as the ongoing success of LG Viewty and HTC Touch Diamond amply proves.
I’m still unconvinced that iPhone will ever be more than the Mac of the mobile biz though – lovely to use, popular with beautiful graphic designers, largely ignored by the masses.
Perhaps, in our collective obsession with the device itself – and how we can tilt the iPhone so that we can scroll through pictures of our kids sitting on tractors – we overlooked the impact that Apple’s approach to selling content would have on mobile.
MocoNews last week reported that T-Mobile USA is to open up its portal along Apple App store lines. It speculates that the operator will share tools and info with developers so that they can submit their applications online and compete for deck space based on the popularity of their apps.
The rev share will be a simple one, comparable with Apple’s 30-70 split. The operator said it wants to: “…foster an open wireless services platform which will provide developers with the tools and information they need to make new, innovative experiences available to T-Mobile’s 31.5m customers.”
It’s not that surprising. The success of App store has exposed the limitations of the traditional operator deck set-up. Indeed one blog reported that the US carriers' combined downloads were around 50 to 60 million for the first quarter of this year, which Apple matched in just a few days.
For T-Mobile it’s a radical move, not least because of how it must re-write internal processes. Traditionally an operator employs various content teams to liaise with key content providers and designated aggregators. This approach does away with the need for them – and it frees up the growing ad team to go after any target it likes without fear of a conflict of interest with favoured content providers.
For suppliers, the new world could be a little scary – with deck placement decided not on marketing spend or personal relationships, but simply how good your stuff is. On the flip side, content can go live in a fraction of the time it does at present.
It all sounds wonderful doesn’t it? What could go wrong? Well, plenty. Apple operates a proprietary system that’s been built from the ground up to integrate hardware and software. But even it’s had technical issues.
So how much more tricky will it be for T-Mobile to ensure seamless interoperability with so many disparate handsets running Windows, Android, etc etc.
And when things do go wrong, who’s going to take the customer support call?
