Anybody waiting to get there hands on this? What are you using in the meantime?
This should be a very attractive market to target for a small startup. Apple will probably sell apps through itunes for 4.99 (or less), so you don't have to worry about sales or distribution (and marketing becomes easier too). And the huge "how do we charge people for this cool thing we made?" issue just completely disappears.
> This should be a very attractive market to target for a small startup.
Don't call it "a small startup". A "small startup" in Mac software terms is some guy, or two guys, or three guys ("indie developers") who apply for an LLC online and then publish the app. I'm pretty sure this will also apply to the iPhone.
A startup in the sense of YCombinator is overkill for this type of stuff. It's arguably necessary for a web app to be backed by seed funding, due to the large numbers of things that need to be kept track of and pulled off. It's definitely necessary for some app that relies on corporate deals to be a startup backed by funding. Why would indie developers working on an app waste time moving to Cambridge/Silicon Valley and doing demos to get bought out by Google / have excessive amounts of money get pumped into them by later stage investors? Sure, dinner with the other founders is nice, but is it all worth the resulting obligations (keep running the startup and doing nothing else, accept investments, get big or get bought out, etc..)
If there's something I'm missing, can someone weigh in on what the point would be?
That said, I can't wait to get my hands on the SDK, and am using nothing else in the meantime. I want to get my foot in the door as soon as possible.
Well, I would argue that its possible that "small startup" could mean a wide range of things, not simply the kind of company Y Combinator tends to fund.
I would also argue that an iPhone app company is at least as likely to be a successful Y Combinator startup as just about anyone else they've funded.
It's a mistake to assume that since indie Mac software has traditionally been written by one guy with an LLC, that all iPhone software will be written that way. For one, the iPhone is a completely different market, much more akin to the iPod than the mac.
Actually thats exactly what I meant by a small startup. Just a couple guys coding something up in a couple of months. By the way, most YC companies start out that way too.
There are a lot of people using unlocked iphones with a load of different apps and some people have been quite creative. I think looking for an app that people really want would be a good move
OTOH, if Apple distributes the apps they can set the terms for the market, possibly creating high barriers to entry such as upfront fees or quality standards.
I remember reading an article in Time about a shareware author who was grossing 600k a year from registrations for his software product. I forget which niche the product was in but the point here is, among the PocketInformant/WebIS big PDA apps there will be plenty of room for independent/small companies to thrive. Build a product that people will use, support it, and do well.
This should be a very attractive market to target for a small startup. Apple will probably sell apps through itunes for 4.99 (or less), so you don't have to worry about sales or distribution (and marketing becomes easier too). And the huge "how do we charge people for this cool thing we made?" issue just completely disappears.