Steve Jobs told USA Today that the Apple App Store will launch with "more than 500" applications Thursday night for the iPhone and iPod touch. Of these, 25% will be free and 90% (of those for sale) will cost $9.99 or less. "This is the biggest launch of my career," said Jobs. Analyst Tim Bajarin at Creative Strategies said, "When IBM introduced the PC, it was good, but it didn't take off until people started discovering the software." It's these apps then, he adds, that will "dramatically differentiates the iPhone" from Treos and BlackBerrys. Indeed, while consumers are focused on the launch of the iPhone 3G device, it's the App Store which has analysts in such a tizzy.
Update: The New York Times
reports that 1/3 of all first-wave applications will be games. We also corrected the Bajarin misquote above.
[Thanks, Matt and Chris Z.]
posted Jul 10th 2008 1:56AM
Nice. :)
June 27th? ughh...whatever it's iPhone crap anyways.
Oh, now you change the picture on me so my comment makes no sense? nice one Engadget.
Damn trolls. If you hate iPhones, stop posting in news stories about them.
It's like you hating mustard on sandwiches so you wait in front of the line at a McDonald's and when you see someone order something with mustard, your eyes widen and you're like, "OMFG YOU MUSTARD N00B. WHATEVER. YOU'RE FAT."
haha yeah mine doesn't make sense with the different pic too. well, kinda.
I don't hate..im just mad how they changed the picture on me, so it made my comment obsolete, and plus im just fed up with too many Apple/iPhone posts..Oh no Jobs wipes his ass with toilet paper..oh no we did not know..this is major news!
... but you just had to rush in here and comment.
You just don't get it, do you bud? The more you comment on these posts the better it is for these posts. If you truly hate it, the best thing you can do is not comment.
You know I'd recommend checking software update for new versions of iTunes every so often because they are obviously going to release a new version as well as 2.0. And also if you look closely at the guided tour of the iPhone 3G you can see an "application" tab on iTunes that goes along with the Music, Movies, T.V. shows. etc on the left side. So that gives a new version of iTunes away!
WAIT! JOBS WIPED HIS ASS, OMG THIS IS BIG, I MEAN BOMBSHELL LITERALLY!
Apps are nice... but I think firmware 2.0 might help.
The iPhone Firmware 2.0 is ok but its lack of multitasking continues to make the iPhone a "dumb-phone" by most measures.
Surely to gain the status of smartphone it needs to overcome this limitation.
Applications are relatively easy to write but publishing them is not that trivial. It will be interesting to see what people have written.
Sorry, I didn't follow you on that multitasking thing because while i was reading your comments, i was also talking to my friend and writing notes down, while listing to my music... all on my iphone.
You we talking to your friend and listening to music at the same time, you must not be a very good friend.
Low rank if you must but go seki is right, a simple s60-ish task switcher would make the iphone/itouch quite ultimate, at the moment that's all that's lacking in it for me (yes I have an iTouch with about 8 pages of apps as well as an N95 so i think i'm allowed to say this). A simple holding down of the home button for a second which brought up a little window with apps is so much better than having to go back to the home screen during an IM chat, browse in safari, go back home to notes, back home to calendar, back home to IM. Oh, and cross system copy and paste would be lovely.
So 25% are free but 90% cost 9.99 or less? Hows that work out?
Free < $0.99
free is less than $9.99
$0 is less than $9.99.
Iz you shittin me? When'd that happen?
25% of 100% are free...
90% of the leftover 75% will cost lest than $9.99
Does this make better sense?
25% of the 500 apps are free. Of the remaining 75%, 90% is less then 10 bucks
shaner, thats still not what it means. 25% of all are free, but 90% of all are under 9.99. give it a second, it'll hit you
From the article
"Jobs says 25% of the apps will be free, and 90% of the ones for sale will be $9.99 or less."
The key to understanding is the "ones for sale" part
"Interesting news has come out of a survey of developers that are attending the WWDC event in San Francisco. According to the survey, up to 70% of the developers surveyed said that their application would not cost you a penny."
http://www.iphonebuzz.com/wwdc-survey-up-to-70-of-iphone-apps-will-be-free-122738.php
If it sounds to good to be true...
out of all apps, 90% of them are less than $9.99. 10% is over $9.99. out of the 90 percent under $9.99, 25% of those are free.
Everything abou the launch is so confusing. the image says "June 27th", and now theres rumors that 2.0 will be launching today (July 10th) instead of Jult 11th. JUST GIVE ME 2.0!!!
25% are free, 90% are $9.99 or less.
25 + 90 = 115%?
uh.
0 < $9.99
I'm going to go ahead and let you think real hard about that.
Uh, "$9.99 or less" would include free, genius.
25% Free
65% $0.01 to $9.99
10% $10 or more
90% includes the free apps, so basically, it's 65% that's less than 9.99 but greater than (and not equal to) $0.
I think that 90% includes the 25% free because free is less then ten bucks. So you can't merge those two percentages. They are separate statements :)
I think you are thinking too hard. Engadget probably put two statements together. 25% of all Apps are free, and out of the 75% that aren't free 90% of those are $9.99 or less.
lol for those who got it right you are smart ... for those who need to go back to english to learn to read CAREFULLY
"25% will be free and 90% (of those for sale) will cost $9.99 or less."
let me break it down
25% will be free
and
90% (of those for sale) will cost $9.99 or less
__________________________________________
25% X 500 apps = 125 apps FREE!!!!!
500 - 125 = 375 apps remain
90% X 375 = 337.5 apps < or = to $9.99
remainder of 37.5 app's price = (insert variable)
enjoy =]
I going to make this "CLEAR".
500 apps on the store.
125 of them are FREE!
338 of them will cost $9.99 or less.
37 of them will cost over $9.99.
///NOW QUIT YOUR MOANING///
HOWEVER, IF YOU ARE FROM EUROPE YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO COMPLAIN CAUSE IF AN APP ON THE US STORE COSTS $9.99 IT'S LIKELY TO COST €9.99 THERE (HERE), WHICH WORKS OUT AT $15.68
A.K.A. Apple tax.
I bet there are going to be some killer apps.
I'm dying already.
Do you work for Apple or are you restating the obvious on every platform out there?
125 free apps? How am I supposed to fit all of those on my phone?
lol, that's why they let you have 8 springboards! Skim pickins
Sweet, I was hoping a lot of them would be free, I heard rumors it's being released like 9:00 AM Thursday (today in my time est). Anyone know for sure? But I just hope I don't end up paying for apps I used to get for free (I'm jailbroken 1.1.4) Oh and one more questions do you think you can use iTunes music store credit for buying games and apps? Yes, right?
i believe the 25% that are free would also fall under costing $9.99 or less, no?
Yes, but I think what the writer means is that apps that will cost an amount of money...... 90% are $9.99 or less.
Free < n > $100
So will there be any pit-falls to upgrading to the 2.0 software? I mean, is it going to brick my unlocked phone?
It wont brick your unlocked phone. It will however lock it back up, so you will need to bypass activation, and then jailbreak and unlock. This of course won't happen till someone creates a new app that supports 2.0. I would avoid ZiPhone so look for the iLiberty+ folks to do the app.
This is likely the biggest news story of the year—that is, that Apple is launching the App Store. I think it's pretty clear by now that the iPhone 3G was simply an updated iPhone 1.0.
The app store will immediately make this into more than a phone; it's going to be a mobile computer. Finally I and many others will be able to leave our laptops behind on short trips and such, and still remain perfectly productive. Some of the apps will be so revolutionary in what they will allow us to do that I think within 5 years from now, people will wonder how they lived without all these things in their pockets!
I'm currently working on an iPhone App of my own, but I wouldn't have the foggiest about making an app for any other phone on the market—not even the fabled 'instinct'. The App store is a more important feature than 'copy and paste,' than 3G, than GPS, than a touch screen, etc.
The fact that people and companies will be able to publish iPhone apps on a dime will make this thing revolutionary!
i agree with the whole leaving laptops behind on short trips. Of course, i have to bring my Airport Express, just in case.
really? how are you going to type a word document with a soft keyboard? if you want a near-laptop replacement, get the Xperia X1, with higher res screen and physical keyboard. The iPhone is good, it's just not really a business phone.
computer? really? how is it going to cut/copy and paste?
(someone was bound to bring up cut/copy and paste...lol)
@Brian - 35% are $10 or more.
FAIL
as it has been stated many times free< $9.99 therefore the free ones are part of the 90% so 10% are $10+
SEE!!! Somebody else gets what I was saying..
@ Bryan
25% of all apps will be free
90% of the apps which will be sold will be under $9.99, therefore, 10% of apps will be over $9.99.
Get it?
you know I don't give a shit how many are $10.00 or more I want the free ones!
Ok, maybe you dont, but cleary, Bryan didnt have the brain power to work out the maths.
"90% (of those for sale) will cost $9.99 or less"
The question is whether "for sale" includes "free" apps. If "for sale" includes only non-free apps, then the breakdown is:
25% Free
67.5% $0.01 to $9.99
7.5% $10 or more
Lol @ apple fanboys.
I've been running much more powerful apps on my Windows Mobile phone for ages.
You nubbies say "omg t3h applicazuns on ph0ne is g0dddddly!!!! s. jobs ftw!!!!". It seems like Apple fanboys are zombies that think that everything Apple does is "revolutionary".
Thanks bro. Right next to you.
Most of them would be completely lost
anywhere outside of that tightly controlled
Apple universe.
Remember, Second best they are.
Yeah well atleast iphone apps dont run slow as dick like winmo ones do. kthxbye
Alex, have you ever even used a WinMo phone?
also, there are tens of thousands of apps for WinMo, some are going to be amazing, and lots are going to be crap.
what are these powerful apps? how much power do they hold?
Actually..yes I've used a WinMo phone my last 2 phones where a htc tilt then a htc touch, i didnt say winmo didnt have good apps i know they do and they have a crap load of them. winmo is just slow and ugly where as iphone is simple and smooth. my friends couldnt even make a call with my winmo phones but no one has had a problem with my iphone. and why cant engadget just remember my freakin password?
Oh yeah, same here. I've got a N95 loaded with cool stuff. Even though the pixel density sucks, it doesn't have a real keyboard, is extremely bulky, and has shitty battery life, I'm still going to say the iPhone 3G sucks to boost my self worth.
...Or is it YOU that thinks YOUR phone is the ONLY phone that can do anything revolutionary?
Don't think about it too hard - just go away.
btw: "Finally, a legit, standalone Twitter client. We're finding it to be quite buggy and slow, however -- which seems to be a growing trend with apps we're testing out."
hm, sounds like iPhone apps aren't actually any better than WinMo apps. Besides, i bet most WinMo apps would run fine on faster phones like the X1.
So of the 4,000 developers selected to sell iPhone apps, only 500 are launching?
Yes, at the very moment it's launched. I'm sure the first full week of the App Store will have tons more apps.
Sounds like Steve is trying to go back in time and make up for losing to M$, and quote the IBM days hah. I always have a feeling like the guy is just asking for attention, like he's that one child that never got loved, or one band player that never got the spotlight. I'm looking to see what apps are released, and i dont own an iphone and most likely will not buy one either. Open SDK FTW!
yeah, like the bass player for metallica.
I don't think Steve needs it - he pretty much IS Apple. When Apple's BoD fired him, the company turned rubbish. He came back, introduced the iMac, and all started looking back on track.
- Created the Mac platform. Arguably 'better' than PCs, cult following and iconic hardware designs allow a luxury goods company to turn record profits during a 'recession'. One of the only companies to still focus on quality.
- Led the iPod to launch. Pretty much revolutionised music sales by creating the first usable DRMed Download store. Created the PMP industry, increased the amount of music people listen to (even if not on iPod itself). Word has entered the OED.
- Led the iPhone to launch. It's legacy is TBD, but it was a historic launch in that Jobs managed to get Apple complete hardware independence from AT&T. That model may continue and promote innovation in the whole Mob. Phone market. Extremely high satisfaction rates - it's an economic and usability success, even if it doesn't change the world.
- Apple Retail. A lot of people skip this one out. They're the quickest growing retail chain in the world (not just quickest "tech market chain"). Very high satisfaction ratings, design awards for stores worldwide. Employ thousands.
Oh, and he used to own Pixar, before he sold it to Disney. He's now the largest single shareholder in the Walt Disney Company.
Whatever you think about Apple and/or their products, you can't flame Steve. He has a very good eye for potential markets, has changed the world several times, and is one of the most successful CEOs in the world. Check out the speech he gave at Stanford (YouTube).
I'm not doubting his success, he sure is up there. I just dont see why he has to be such a money hungry monger. Fact remains apps are not to be distributed by everyone, and apple takes 35% cut from all the sales, puts restrictions in SDK agreement. Seriously...am i the only one that thinks this is bullshit? To a consumer, this might be transparent...but to some one that likes to develop like me its complete bullshit. Most SDK's out there provide free support and encourage development, not the case here. Dont get me wrong i really like iphone, i just cant stand the fact its more locked down than arabian vagina. Apple was never known to be a good supporter of developers, and you can see it by the amount of software available for the OS.
Verx
You have no clue what you are talking about. Apple gets 30% in order to run the app store... Developers think that the app store is simply the best way to get their apps into consumers hands.. No Support??? Go to Apple Developer center where there are tutorials and support pages to help you...
"...one band player that never got the spotlight."
?
I can't say your comparison is working as he's definitely been the only guy in the band, making hit records, in the spotlight for the last 32 years. He's closer to retiring than just starting out, so you don't need to worry about his spotlight ever arriving - it's been on him for decades. While you make comparisons to band members, Jobs sells iPods and band member's music on iTunes.
@heshmati4
"Apple gets 30% in order to run the app store... Developers think that the app store is simply the best way to get their apps into consumers hands"
Is that straight from Job's ass or you figured it out all by yourself? Do you think record labels also get 30% jack hammer? Obviously YOU don't know what you're talking about. It's about choice, and apple gives you none.
Apple developer center is a joke.
*cough*
Android.
*cough*
Loser
Hey, the Android demos look cool. But it's not out. No phones, no solid availability dates. I'll look into it when it comes out, but while I've been waiting, I've been using my iPhone for the last year, and will be getting the 3G.
Waiting for perfection until you buy will have you waiting a long, long time. You gotta get involved at some point if this stuff turns your crank.
*cough*
Vaporware.
Go away clak.
NOOO! Thought I hit the reply button to clak, I mean Ocean, sorry about that, at least it wasn't a double post lol.
Interesting, every time I hit Ocean's reply button, it goes down to the comment box, but does not say that you are replying to anybody. Good, I'm not crazy thinking that I hit 'reply' when the system says I didn't.
You're all wrong actually...
If you read the direct quote from USA Today: "Jobs says 25% of the apps will be free, and 90% of the ones for sale will be $9.99 or less." I believe the 90% excludes the free apps. So...
25% of 500 = 125 free apps.
Leaving 90% of the remaining 375 are 9.99 or less (.9x375 = 338 rounding up)
375 apps for sale - 338 that are 9.99 or less = 37 or 7.4% of 500
So according to Steveo's off the cuff guestimates we can assume approximately 7.4% (~37) of the 500 apps available at launch are $10 or more.
spot on tconnor, people did not read the article carefully enough (particularly the parenthesized part).. yes, most people got it wrong including the 25% into the 90%.
At last, someone who can do maths (or math according to our American brethren).
It never fails to astonish me how many people seem to be proud of the fact they can't do basic sums. Some of them don't even realise they can't do basic sums, which is even more worrying...
OT: People, upload avatars for your accounts already.
what application could possibly be worth more than 9.99...and how much more are we talking about? like adobe photoshop 399 dollars? hahaha
I smell a Final Cut Mobile Edition coming on!!!
Only $499.99!!
Oh god don't throw any more numbers into this thread.
"But $399.99 < $499.99 which is 1% of the remaining 10%..."
Yeah...you guys are talking about iPhone Apps, but the iPhone still hasn't launched in Romania :(
I have ABSOLUTELY NO INTEREST in the iPhone 3G. But I tell you. If I can play and record piano sounds on my phone, that would (excuse me) FUCKING ROCK!
Don't know if anyone else noticed, but itunes 7.7 is on Software Update. Hopefully 2.0 will be available soon!!
I was just about to say the same thing.
itunes 7.7 is live i just downloaded it from software update... just letting you guys know. and it says it has suppot for 3g iphone, 2.0 software, and remote control from ipod touch/ iphone available as a free download from the app store. just letting u guys know...
Simply fantastic times for iPhone/Touch users. The quality of the apps will be second to none. Similar apps may be available on competitors woefully inadequate devices. The versions on the iPhone will be top notch quality versions that will be the envy of users who bought these "me too" products. I'm quite sure that many of these new developers may be a bit anemic when it comes to producing high quality UI for their apps. Give them time to learn how to create gorgeous apps. Don't blame them. When working with crap like WinMo/Symbian/Java type platforms, you of course end up producing crap to match the crap that its running on. :-)
It's these apps then, he adds, that will "dramatically differentiates the iPhone" from Treos and BlackBerrys.
...notice how he sidesteps WinMo...
Long time reader, first time commenter.
DYLAN C:
I have to completely disagree with everything you say. I currently own a WM6 PDA, the XV6800. I waited over a year for it... constantly checking sites for any info at all. Then it comes out after a nine month delay, and I wasn't eligible, so I paid retail for it.
The phone stock is absolutely, 100% garbage. I cannot receive MSN or Hotmail email. Pocket IE takes about three years to load a page, it looks like crap, and it usually freezes the phone if used on any non-mobile site. Then of course come the constant resets because of the 24mb available RAM overall... and the memory leaks, please. Just two weeks ago, for absolutely no reason at all, the phone started going slow. Soft resets did nothing. Luckily I was able to sync my contacts and info, and I was forced to hard reset.
Of course it you can install apps.. some are great! Which is why I wanted a PDA, to be able to customize it. And my phone has GPS... but it's locked, so it doesn't work at all. I had to install at least six apps to make the phone even usable out of the box. So now that I can install third party apps, why would I want to keep my PDA? I pay the same monthly ($30 data), have GPS but can't use it, and the phone needs to be reset once a day because of memory leaks.
I love MS products, but they are VERY far behind. Just look at IE. Opera has dominated the PDA market, and Firefox has crushed the desktop side. (I don't use FF either).
By the way, everything I own is Microsoft... custom XP MCE desktop, a $4,000 XPS m1710 Vista laptop, Xbox 360 (on my 5th one now in 18 months)... and so forth. Yet I cannot wait to get rid of my XV6800 and get the 3G iPhone Friday morning.
So there you have it... diehard MS consumer, yet Friday morning can't come soon enough for me.
I have one of them, under the T mobile MDA Branding.
Lovely phone, butt, if your having problems, give a rom from here a go.
Im using CRCs R11.0, fast, and very much like vanilla, no extra bloat.
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=HTC_Hermes
xda-developers are a reason to keep buying WM and HTC phones.
Ps. on the gps part, blame HTC, if you read the topic, they deliberately made it so you couldn't use it, thus they had a big new feature for the TyNT 2.
@ ill tropper
i wasnt expecting anything less than such allegiance to apple from a fanboy like yourself.
jobs is pullin out the big guns. comparing to ibm . . . wow!
I'd like to know this... how accurate or precise is the iPhone's touchscreen? Will it be able to run applications to make sketches, jot down notes, etc?
My Sony Ericsson P1i can do that, but this one uses an old touchscreen technology.
What about the upcoming Xperia? Or the HTC Touch Pro? None of these new ones seem to have a stylus supplied.
Lastly, will there be a WiFi streaming radio application that takes advantages of free streams like ShoutCast, Reciva, etc?
I hope so.
Oh, and for all you Nokia / SonyEricsson users, try the free Virtual Radio application that's available at http://www.vradio.org/index.php?js=a
It's a nifty thing that can tune upto 900 -odd stations, for free, and at good bitrates.
It would be amazing if the iPhone can have something as functional and feature-packed as this application.