A press release from Apple is saying that the iPhone SDK has been downloaded more than 100,000 times since its release 4 days ago (that’s less than 100 hours folks).
So let’s say a mere 1% of those people who downloaded the SDK actually make an application. That’s 1,000 applications on DAY ONE. As I discussed in my last blog post, this is going to blow the doors off the way software and applications are distributed in the mobile marketplace. Sure, some of those applications aren’t going to pass Apple’s review process, and some of them are going to be crap. But that’s still going to be a huge selection compared to what is currently offered in the cell phone application market (read: nothing).
On John Battelle’s Searchblog, Matt Cutts griped in January ’07 that he had just bought a new cell phone and that he couldn’t set a preferred home page, he couldn’t send his geo coordinates to a site that he surfs to, and that he couldn’t download applications that weren’t approved by the carrier. A little over a year later, and the iPhone lets you set as many preferred home pages as you like, and save them to your “mobile desktop.” With the iPhone you can use the maps function to locate your present location and then search for business in your proximity. And in a few short months, you’ll be able to download from an entire marketplace of applications.
Power to the people my friends, power to the people.
