Back to the July 2007 issue.

What the iPhone Will Bring to the World of Interactive

(by Craig Cooke, CEO)

The iPhone has been one of the most anticipated product launches in recent history. People were lining up in front of Apple stores and AT&T stores days before the release.

For those that don’t know specifically what the iPhone offers, it is a cell phone, an iPod, a PDA and an Internet device, all in one compact unit. Let’s explore how this device will influence future interactive trends.

The biggest difference between the iPhone and other Smart phones is how users view the Internet. The iPhone is the only phone on the market that includes a fully functional web browser. This means you see websites as they were intended to be seen on normal computers according to Apple. For the most part this is true, but due to the screen real estate available, one has to use the zooming feature quite often to read content. However, it really is an advancement for the mobil interactive market. This opens the door to custom applications written for the web to be ported to the iPhone easily. Database driven applications that drive ecommerce, news, social networking and more can all be viewed through the Safari web-browser as intended. In my opinion, opportunity exists for custom applications directly intended for the iPhone. These applications can take advantage of the unique user experience the iPhone delivers.

In addition to custom applications written for the iPhone, users will enjoy a more extensive online experience. Imagine visiting a website and downloading an informative podcast that you want to listen to immediately. Since the iPhone is also an iPod, you will be able to instantly listen and watch audio and video podcasts anywhere you go.

The iPhone contains a wide variety of Internet enabled features, and all of this adds up to users interacting with the web more on-the-go than behind a desk or with a large laptop (large in comparison to the iPhone). These means more opportunity for users to interact with search, email, podcasts, blogs, social networks, web applications, ecommerce and all the great things the web delivers to us today. The iPhone is truly a web 2.0 device, and it opens the door to a future of web 3.0 where we will not have limitations imposed upon our user experience by the mobil device we use. That is as long as other companies follow Apple’s example of advancing our user experience.

The only drawback I see right now for taking advantage of the iPhone is the exclusive deal Apple has with AT&T. Once other providers are able to offer the iPhone, the rest of the mobile market can jump on board. Then the numbers will make sense for a majority of marketers to expend resources for special programs for the iPhone. I have Verizon, and as soon as they are able to offer the iPhone, I know I will purchase one. Until then, I will have to wait, hopefully not too long.





Statistics Corner

Advertising in games is predicted to jump from $370 million to more than $2 billion by 2012 according to a recent forecast from Park Associates.

1.5 billion people, over 20% of the world’s population, will be accessing the Internet regularly by 2011, according to a report from Jupiter Research.

Ronpaul2008.com (Republican) and hillaryclinton.com (Democrat) were the two top presidential candidate websites in April according to traffic measurements by Hitwise.

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