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Developers of Apps Are Gearing Up For iPad
For Scott Lahman, Apple’s soon-to-launch iPad tablet computer could be the following big point. Really.
His company, Gogii, creates the TextPlus app for the iPhone, which lets folks send text messages free, bypassing the phone network. It has been downloaded a lot more than 5 million times.
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The iPad, a 9.7-inch touch-screen computer that Apple touts as a multimedia e-reader and mobile Web surfer, is set to launch April 3, starting at $499. It is an understatement to say that Lahman, and thousands of other developers who created programs for the iPhone, are excited about the possibilities. “If there ever was a space to accomplish some land-grabbing in, this is it,” says Lahman, Gogii’s CEO.
Since Apple (AAPL) launched the iPhone in 2007, developers have created some 150,000 software applications, or apps, which have been downloaded 2 billion occasions. They range from free, ad-supported text-message workarounds like Gogii’s, to games, restaurant locators, music services and GPS location assistance. While most will work fine on the iPad, developers are racing to optimize existing apps to take benefit of the larger display, or to dream up new ones.
The iPhone spawned a $1 billion-a-year industry for app developers, says analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray. He predicts first-year sales of 2.7 million iPads, compared with 4 million iPhones in the first year. The iPhone has grown to become a third of Apple’s company, says Munster. The iPad has the possible to represent 10% to 15% of Apple’s annual revenue by 2012, he states.
“The iPad isn’t a phone,” says Munster. “It’s a different animal.”
But for developers, even if the iPad sells only 1 million units within the first year, it nevertheless represents a massive marketplace that’s either an add-on to the current iPhone market or an all-new 1.
“I’d rather be in early than sit back and wait and let my competitors get early traction,” says Ken Willner, CEO of Zumobi, a Seattle-based developer of ad-supported apps for large media brands such as MSNBC and Today. “It’s a larger device, so it is better for advertising.”
Certain, the iPad will have a more compact audience initially, he says, but so-called early adopters are “much more engaged.” Zumobi may have a revamped app for Motor Trend magazine ready at launch.
Consumers, who’ve bought apps for their iPhones, or the iPod Touch, will not pay additional to access them on an iPad. But an app will appear within the more compact, 3-inch mode with a big black border unless the developer optimizes it for the larger display. This presents developers with new opportunities.
“This is the iPhone moving into the living room,” says Bart Decrem, CEO of Tapulous. Its Tap Tap Revenge is one of the iPhone’s most well-known games, with 25 million downloads. “In the short phrase, it is an extension of the iPhone. Within the long phrase, it’s a brand-new platform that will move eyeballs off gaming consoles and laptops.”
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