| Apple’s iPhone App Store has led to the creation of an entire industry - and a new breed of entrepreneurs. Apps can be anything from a fun game to a useful application one can use on the iPhone. They are marketed through the App Store with the developers splitting the revenue with Apple 70/30 (in the developers' favour). The App Store launched with about 500 applications available, but now there are 75,000 applications available with over 800 million downloads recorded.
In Australia, a small group of business entrepreneurs have been able to cash in on the iPhone craze by developing their own applications and selling them around the world. From full-time software developers to IT workers tinkering in their bedroom, they span the gamut of entrepreneurial ingenuity.
Although novelty downloads make a lot of money they are usually disposable, whereas the applications with a specific use are proving to be invaluable for some iPhone users. Australian developer Graham Dawson of OzPDA developed the OzWeather application that allows users to customise Bureau of Meteorology data to their local area. The OzWeather application has recorded 34,638 downloads providing him with an income of AU$60,374 so far this year, for that app alone. The app reached the number one spot in the Australian App Store, and has consistently remained in the top 10 since its release last year.
Some apps have made the big cross over into the US market. MoGeneration has created applications across a range of genres, its most popular being a game designed for children called "MooShake". The AU$1.19 app reached the number two spot for kids' games on the Australian App Store, and hit number four on the US charts.
However, it is not just money that makes the App Store platform so attractive to business entrepreneurs. Another major factor is that developers can avoid huge advertising and marketing budgets. The App Store has a user rating for each app and, according to Dawson, if they rank highly in the app store they don't have to do much marketing - the consumer does it for them.
The application craze has now spread beyond Apple, with BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Google and Nokia all launching their own application stores to cash in on the trend. This opens a whole new market for the savvy business entrepreneurs who can provide the next killer app for mobile smartphones.
And that’s only the beginning according to Steve Fawkner of gaming development group Infinite Interactive. Fawkner believes that the mobile market is going to grow the gaming industry to undreamt of heights.
Between games and applications, and the ingenuity of a new breed of entrepreneur, Australia looks set to supply a new demand that is growing exponentially. Developers and analysts predict the application market will eventually become a major industry in its own right.
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