SMS Text News reader Julian sent me this thoughtful viewpoint on the iPhone and platform-as-a-service. Have a read…
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I am blown away by the vision of the platform. People keep harping on about ’software as service’ and ‘the cloud’. The network operators want to be service providers, Nokia is trying everything to be a service provider. HP has just bought EDS for a large number of billions to be a service’s company. The magic about the Apple iPhone2? I will give you a hint. It’s not about the hardware or the ticket price.
I was sitting following the keynote listening to the well informed tech heads around me complaining that the keynote is the strategic statement for the next 12 months and that Jobs was wasting precious minutes of his 2 hours. He was talking about software deployment, types of applications, easy distribution deals. Where were the toys? One person had the Apple stock traker up to watch the worm heading down. I agreed that it was a keynote, but I don’t think Jobs wasted a minute.
What Jobs was announcing to a developer conference is something that Microsoft hasn’t begun to do with Windows Mobile and Nokia’s Ovi is fumbling in bandname darkness. Jobs has monitorised the developer community so that they win and the mobile user wins. Yes its a toll gate but most people only buy their software through a single shop and a trusted brand anyway. It is a platform that gives the full experience of the open network, with the single proviso that you place a dollar in the hand at the gate going in and going out.
Apple has is making services money at every link in the chain and they have made the idea of paying for everything attractive and exciting: MobileMe, iTunes for professional content, the software store, the hardware. These are just the cash streams I know about - what a strategic vision for the next 12 months! The new hardware toys, when they arrive will line up like ducks in the pond.
They appear to have lost their slice of the monthly network revenue, but I don’t think they care.
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Nice one Julian — thanks!
Danlane on 
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Apple want to create a world where people buy services. Music, software, applications, SyncML servers.
Imagine that, next year Apple announce iPhone OS v3. It'll add video recording and all that other fancy stuff to your Gen I iPhone. And it'll only cost you €25. It's what they do with their other hardware. Nokia, by contrast, give away fir,ware updates (maybe that's why they're so lacklustre?).
As Whatley pointed out, iPhones are for consuming and Nokias are for creating. And it will probably stay that way until Apple figure out a good way to get people to create.
If MobileMe can act like flickr, YouTube and Jaiku - are people going to be happy paying €$£ if their phone is limited to 2MP?
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their iPhones?
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creator device?
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Not a disaster - most want to consume primarily anyway - but I'll be carrying a S60 device too for Qik, a QWERTY pad etc etc.... the E71 you were so excited about in the podcast :-)
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Not to mention that you can write your own programs - and run any you like - without getting the approval of Apple.
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1. Apple has traditionally supported careful contents creation - even their free tools on the Mac are not point and shoot. MacMe provides a gallary for happy snaps
2. This is a platform - the pretty toys with higher spec cameras or tiny form factors will come out over the next year but the fundamentals of the platform are now announced to the developers (i.e. hardware target and cash flows)
3. The iPhone is (I have asserted lots of times) truely a consumer device for professional people who want their personal phone to be as good as their work Blackberry but, well, personal. Apple have historically had 'Pro' lines and 'Consumer' lines (even the iPod). So the pro-line may well be very content creation oriented. The Apple Communicator maybe?
The announcement was about setting expectations of the great unwashed that the iPhone world costs money to play in and, for the first time in my memory, garage developers sell their programs for NOT FREE. That is why I think Steve had the music player guy on stage. You too can sell your cool idea for $10 - this is not Symbian or the Web or the PC where freeware is the only thing that will sell.
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*applauds apple*
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1. At point of sale (consumer gets the hardware, Apple get paid for the device sale).
2. At network connection (consumers get a usable phone, Apple get paid by the network - and potentialy get a lifetime customer revenue share as well if you belive some reports).
3. Consumer buys iTunes content (consumers get music, video etc, Apple get a share of these transactions).
4. Consumer buys software, games etc from AppStore (consumers get added utility from upgrading their device, Apple get 30% of software purchase price).
It is very, very clever stuff. IMHO, Nokia are the only device manufactuer that have spotted the same oppoutunity, they just don't seem to be able to pul it off with Apple's style/spin at the moment. ALL the networks would love to be able to do the same thing. All the more remakable that Apple have entered the market and done all this in under a year!
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