Smartphones Conundrum
Dean Bubley has an interesting article on what he thinks of Smartphones and viability of 3rd party software. He sees, "no direct massmarket demand for installing 3rd-party software on phones". He thinks, "smartphones are all about "what comes out of the tin". " He goes on to say, "It would be different if there was fantastically-simple way of getting new software, similar to clicking on a link on a website & installing a browser plug-in ".
In some ways I agree. I have previously written (see related links below) about how most people don’t even know (or care) they can install 3rd party applications. There is actually a simple way of getting new software. Symbian, Java ME and Windows Mobile applications can all be installed via a web link. What’s difficult is discovering the applications and providing variants that work on the majority of phones.
This doesn’t mean there is no market for 3rd party applications. There’s just no mass-market. Lots of smaller ISVs such as Mobimate still do very well selling to early adopter type people who have the money to buy expensive devices and hence software.
Over time, I have learnt to think less about selling applications and more about…
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Creating free 3rd party software as an instrument for selling something else. An example is my work on PhonePrint. Other obvious applications include VoIP and advertising. I have also been involved with companies that have increased their non-mobile presence and market through the PR generated off the back of a mobile version of their service.
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Use of Smartphones as a playground for new ideas that will potentially eventually become part of the phone OS or network operator service. This is when the 3rd party application reaches the mass-market.
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