T-Mobile to Launch App Store?

[winterspan]

This will do nothing to remedy the existing problem of having so many different platforms..

1. BREW
2. multiple implementations of JAVA ME
3. 3 different versions of mobile linux
4. Flash Lite
5. Symbian S60
6. UIQ
7. Palm OS
8. Windows Mobile
9. and a handful of other proprietary systems...

Not to mention all the different button configurations, form factors, touchscreens, etc. This is why the iPhone is so attractive as a development platform. I don't see Tmobile really getting anywhere...

 

[rjwill246]

Hilarious

Yeah I know, kind of like the Newton & AppleTV both about as popular as the Zune.

Talk about looking through the wrong end of the telescope! In your view then, a company would have to have ZERO bombs... show me one, I'm in the market for shares. Oh and while I wait, there is the issue of Apple's 30-40% y/y growth in Macs, iPhone growth that is likely to surpass Nokia (>100 mm) in 3 years, complete dominance of the MP3 world, up to an 80% penetration into Enterprise, a complete reversal of trends in higher education-- and that is the most important number of all-- the Achilles' heel of other OSes!

The Newton was, in fact a hit! Apple TV-- early days, mate. It is a device yet to reach its full potential.

I am amazed at the pundits who see every Apple misstep or new venture as proof that Apple is going down "soon." Re-reading the idiotic rubbish posted last year- mostly from outside the US-- on the iPhone must make those posters blush-- oh, wait...

 

[kyleb822]

You have got to be kidding me T-Mobile is a joke. This will fizzle out within a few months!

 

[Mjmar]

hahahahaha!

 

[MacTraveller]

T-Mobile copy-cats apple?

intimation is the best form of flatbread.

 

[Westside guy]

So the iPhone App store isn't a store to get you to spend way too much money on pointless add-on services for your phone?

What about the pointless games, the pointless ringtones, the pointless apps that are just there for fun, and profit.

<snip>

I love Apple products, but sometimes the horribly one-sided opinions upset me.

Are you a T-Mobile customer? Do you have the frame of reference to reasonably determine the difference between "one-sided opinions" and legitimate criticism? I'm a T-Mobile customer and an iPod Touch owner, so I think I've got a good foundation to draw the conclusion you criticized.

Apple's App Store is working because they're selling apps people actually want, be it games or what-not (you mention ring tones - is that even part of the App Store?). As a T-Mobile customer for 3-4 years, I've been struck by the fact that they keep trying to get you to buy stuff that, as far as I can tell, has very little appeal to most anyone. Yet whenever I log in to check my bill or whatnot, they're still trying hard to market what basically amounts to crap - there are the requisite ring-tones, wallpapers, and a very poor selection of games in there (well everyone likes Bejeweled, but other than that...).

Now the thing is - one of the reasons I like T-Mobile is they don't seriously lock down their phones. So I can, for free, put together wallpaper of my choosing and put it on my phone. I can, for free, put together my own ring-tones. I can use Bluetooth to sync my address book and my calendar with my phone, without having to pay them for the privilege (the main reason I left Verizon). Their new "$10 home phone" is a great idea for people who still want an actual home phone number. But yet they still keep trying to sell the warmed-over crap that is their "T-Zone" store. It hasn't really changed over the time I've been a customer; so I fully expect this new store of theirs will just be a slightly redesigned version of the same tired offerings.

 

[Syrus28]

The Newton was 10 years ahead of its time, and even SJ has admitted that TV is really just a hobby. You can hardly compare those to AT&T's top-selling phone, one that is reportedly selling 800,000 units per week.

No, it's a rumor that Apple is reportedly building 800,00 per week. Anyways, the fact remains that not everything Apple has put out is as big of a success as we all try to make it.

Dell is trying to copy the iMac, many try to copy iTunes, Micro$oft wants to copy the Apple experience, Many want to create an iPhone look alike, and T-Mobile wants to create an AppStore. WHAT ELSE IS NEW????

Kool-aid.

Right, that's why nobody uses the iPod anymore. They all got bored and switched to SansDisks & Zunes -- "Not necessarily better, but different"...oh, wait

Umm... The iPod is an mp3 player, while the iPhone & RAZR are phones.

Talk about looking through the wrong end of the telescope! In your view then, a company would have to have ZERO bombs... show me one, I'm in the market for shares. Oh and while I wait, there is the issue of Apple's 30-40% y/y growth in Macs, iPhone growth that is likely to surpass Nokia (>100 mm) in 3 years, complete dominance of the MP3 world, up to an 80% penetration into Enterprise, a complete reversal of trends in higher education-- and that is the most important number of all-- the Achilles' heel of other OSes!

Ok, time for a reality check.
1.Mac OS X has less than 4% market share worldwide
2.Apple sold about 8 million phones in 1 year. Nokia sells 400 million handsets in 1 year. Apple is aiming for 1% market share, Nokia has 40%
3. iPods have ~70% market share in a shrinking market (US ONLY)LINK
4. Macs have ~10% market share in enterprise, and 80% of businesses have at least 1 Mac computer. LINK
5. Macs have 31% in education (US only) LINK

Don't take this as downplaying Apple's accomplishments. Apple has been extremely successful, but they've only had 1 break away success so far (iPod) but people keep acting like its nearly guaranteed everything they release will be the same.

I am amazed at the pundits who see every Apple misstep or new venture as proof that Apple is going down "soon." Re-reading the idiotic rubbish posted last year- mostly from outside the US-- on the iPhone must make those posters blush-- oh, wait...

Do they not do the same thing for other companies? Anytime Microsoft is mentioned, Microsoft is apparently "dying". Anytime someone comes up with a new touch screen phone, its an "iPhone clone". People always jump to premature conclusions, sadly. It's only natural.

 

[Digitalclips]

Amazes me how Apple always seems to push things forward in technology.

What would the tech world do without Apple to copy all the time?

 

[zacman]

Not to mention all the different button configurations, form factors, touchscreens, etc. This is why the iPhone is so attractive as a development platform. I don't see Tmobile really getting anywhere...

Again: Jamba! supports all these different platforms with their app store, they are the market leader and made 600 million revenue already in 2005 (wikipedia doesn't have any numbers from 2006/07). It's a long way for Apple to come even close with their AppStore.

 

[illutionz]

Java crapplet???
I had enough of those

 

[ScubaDuc]

I am not an expert programmer but can't one just "port" the application to a different OS with minimal modifications?

I seem to recall that Nokia recently bought a software company that markets a software called Qt (pr. cute) that should do just that. Also, according to Olly Pekka, Nokia is coming out with a line of touch phones based on symbyan in the last quarter of the year. Some Nokia Phones offer interesting functions like geotagging photos, UpnP, Internet Radio, VoiP....

 

[macUser2007]

I am not sure why there are any negative ratings on this one. I guess a lot of religious idiots click up.

Competition is good. T-Mobile is a giant company, providing service in a number of countries around the world. So they do have the user base for their shop.

They have to cover only a couple of major OSs. I use both a first gen iPhone and a WM 6.1 HTC.

While overall the iPhone provides a more complete and easier user experience (visual voicemail rocks, and Safari is still the best, (although Opera 9.5 is getting close,)) the WM 6.1 is in some way more useful, particularly when traveling (and I've skinned in a way that I actually like it as much as the iPhone.)

There are a ton of great apps for WM 6.1, so offering them all in one place is a good idea.

So, be grateful for the competition. If it weren't for competing touch phones, I doubt Apple would have been in any hurry to provide G3, GPS, or even the App Store....

 

[gkarris]

T-Mobile and Sprint are dead. In the end it will be AT&T and Verizon the only ones still standing.

What about the rest of the world?

Agreed. T-Mobile and Sprint should just give up now, I dont know one person that uses either of them.

I use T-Mobile.

btw, just so you know, T-Mobile has the iPhone... (and they only charge 1 Euro for it with the higher plans).

http://www.t-mobile.de/iphone/

 

[Lanbrown]

I can see the store being profitable. Nothing says that one app would have to work on all phones.

The largest seller of mobile phone software would be Handango and from what many developers say, Handango can take up to 90% of the sale at times. T-Mobile will make it easy for the consumer to buy the apps as the phone will be T-Mobile branded and provide a link to the store. It will bring the store closer to the users. I cannot see many developers wanting to continue their relationship with Handango.

 

[megfilmworks]

What about that earlier Apple tie in phone that sucked so damn bad...

Yes, the iphone is revolutionary. To bad the company it's service is tied to in America still works out of the dark ages...

That wasn't an Apple phone, it was a Moto that could play iTunes.
It's been said that the Motorola joke was the reason Apple decided to build their own phone.

Not sure what the dark ages have to do with Att, not sure you do either.

 

[Avicdar]

I can't imagine it being that easy. You see, there once was a phone called the RAZR. Everyone wanted one, and soon the price came down and everyone bought one. Turns out, the other companies are jealous and decide to design their own RAZR-like phone. The early ones suck, so people stay with the RAZR. Soon enough, all these people's contracts ended and were looking for a new phone. The other phones improved quite a bit, and since they already had a RAZR (and Motorola wasn't producing anything much different), they went looking for a different phone. Motorola fails, and starts bleeding money, because when thinking of Motorola, the were "been there, done that".

Now I'm not saying Apple is going the same route, but It's going to take more than adding 3G, GPS, and some colors to keep its customers when the other phones catch up (which they ALWAYS do). Apple's been smart so far, as people who are on other services haven't experienced the iPhone yet. What happens in 2 years when the AT&T exclusivity is up, and Apple (presumably) floods the market with iPhones? Once those contracts end (and other phones improvde), people are going to look for a different experience. Not necessarily better, but different.

I don't agree with this at all. My reason is simple: history can repeat itself.

Remember the original iPod? It held less songs for more money than much of its competition. People scoffed that it would fail miserably.

Apple knows better than anyone that the specs on a spec sheet do not guarantee a successful product. if you were to compare the jukebox style 20gb mp3 players that were in competition with the original iPod you'd know this.

Apples key is the tight integration between software and hardware. The user experience. Taking what used to be completed or just 'too hard' to do, and making it simple.

Case in point - MobileMe. I make a change to a calendar on my desktop computer and it magically ends up on my phone and my laptop. I grab an app from the app store on my phone, it installs itself and enhances the functionality of the phone. The app gets automatically backed up to iTunes when I connect the phone.

I was reading Wired today for the first time in a long time and I noticed a phone ad for an iPhone style device that featured things like turn by turn navigation as one of its built in features. The iPhone does not have this, yet. But even if it never did would an extra feature actually make people flock to another phone?

Learn from the iPod experience. It caught on not because of the device alone but because of the infrastructure and support around it. Apple 'gets' this like no other company. Microsoft is only now starting to (or so they say) pay attention to that.

 

[tmiw]

T-Mobile and Sprint are dead. In the end it will be AT&T and Verizon the only ones still standing.

Yes, I definitely want to pay the same prices the people on Rogers do for their iPhones.

In all seriousness, though, I see Sprint disappearing, but probably not T-Mobile, unless something changes in the next few years.

 

[Frisco]

Yes, I definitely want to pay the same prices the people on Rogers do for their iPhones.

In all seriousness, though, I see Sprint disappearing, but probably not T-Mobile, unless something changes in the next few years.

Sprint will definitely be bought out within the next 6 months. They are just losing too much money and too many customers.

 

[tmiw]

Sprint will definitely be bought out within the next 6 months. They are just losing too much money and too many customers.

Actually, I don't think so. At least, not until they get rid of Nextel. They'd be too much of a liability to anyone else if they still have it, even if Verizon is the suitor. Considering the economy and the difficulty of finding cash for such a purchase, a Chapter 11 scenario might be more likely.

 

[babyj]

The problem is that no single app is going to run on all 31.5 million phones. They're all different platforms, different operating systems and differing hardware. There won't be any big sellers in the T-Mobile app store and therefore developers are not going to flock to it.

For example, do you think Sega is going to step up and create Monkeyball for Windows Mobile, Android, Symbian, etc., etc. No, they are not going to waste their time trying to sell to a potential subset of 31.5 million subscribers that will, in all likelihood, be smaller than Apple's 10 million potential customers.

T-Mobile have got about 100 Million customers worldwide.

Don't forget that developers won't be limited to selling via T-Mobile, they can sell their apps to customers on any network. Develop an app to run on Symbian and it will run on any Symbian phone - not just T-Mobile ones.

 

[blimeyoriley]

such ******* copycats

 

[tmiw]

such ******* copycats

Or, Apple did such an awesome job that everyone needs to copy them to stay afloat. Optimism is always better than being angry that people are competing with you.

 

[Popeye206]

If you're not afraid of competition then why the outcry of how great Apple is.

Every other phone company and manufacturer are copying it right now and making it better without Steve getting in the way.

I Love Competition and so should you.

Nothing wrong with competition.... but this is Apples to Oranges for lack of a better metaphor. No developer wants to build for 60 different phones and 10 different OS's. It does not make sense. Also, A Razor is limited in what it can do compared to an iPhone. Apple has one the the best delivery mechanisms out there (iTunes) and a strong platform. Not perfect, but stronger than many others. As a developer, I would go for the iPhone/iPod platform just because it has a mass audience on one platform. If I choose to develop for something else... then so be it, but I don't think I'll waste my time on a Razor phone or some goofy half baked Samsung iPhone wantabe.

What I don't understand is why some people have such trouble accepting that what Apple has done with the iPods, iPhone and iTunes is truly industry changing and very cool? I'm guessing that 99% of people that "poo-poo" Apple and the iPhone, don't even own one or have even tried one.

As for the T-Mobile store... my bet is it will be a "me too" flop. Maybe Zune users will like it????

 

[Popeye206]

T-Mobile have got about 100 Million customers worldwide.

Don't forget that developers won't be limited to selling via T-Mobile, they can sell their apps to customers on any network. Develop an app to run on Symbian and it will run on any Symbian phone - not just T-Mobile ones.

The key is Distribution! Anyone can develop and try and sell an application, but it's the distribution that makes the difference. iTunes and Apples App Store is an awesome deal. Direct and easy access to all iPhone and iPod Touch users. Do something for Symbian or Palm and now you have to go find the customers. You have to bring them to you and that takes marketing and money. Something you don't have to do when an Apple developer.

How many times on your Razor (for example) have you ever connected to a web site and downloaded an update or checked in with Motorola? I never had? With my iPhone, I'm on iTunes all the time. Syncing, getting updates and downloading new content. I'm a click away from some developer selling me their application. On the Razor I never even get in the store.

 

[Popeye206]

I
I was reading Wired today for the first time in a long time and I noticed a phone ad for an iPhone style device that featured things like turn by turn navigation as one of its built in features. The iPhone does not have this, yet. But even if it never did would an extra feature actually make people flock to another phone?

Please check the facts again... the new 3G phone does have turn by turn GPS navigation. Just a note.