The creativity of the most inventive minds across the globe breathe life into the iPAD platform: it promotes innovation and rewards apps developers with revenue share. Consumers are spoilt for choice. Apps growth on the iPAD platform is phenomenal. At last count more than 14 million applications are available!
Most apps developers do not mind Apple's clunky approvals process and uncompromising 30% revenue cut because it is the best global marketing platform for their work.
The rigorous Apple vetting of submissions ensures that malware is detected and rejected. Consumers have a high degree of confidence that iTunes apps are free of dangerous virus code. In a world of solicited and unsolicited 'free' Trojan horse software, consumers are happy to pay for vetted security.
Apple's policy on Media Companies a big mistake
The 30% revenue cut and refusal to share consumer data and identity with newspaper and magazine publishers is another story. The media business depends on interactivity with and mining of audience databases. Denying media companies the core value of their own audiences is counter-productive for Apple.
It is a big mistake. It will drive the entire media sector away from Apple and the iPAD platform. It will arm the Android platform of Google and enhance the serious challenge of the just launched Amazon FIRE.
Worse, disaffection of media channels can do little good for Apple and deliver a huge boost for Amazon's FIRE as a credible alternative for rich content.
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| Apple enjoys a 2/3rd : 1/3rd lead |
There are 6 device makers of smartphones and tablets which offer 42 models to consumers currently: Dell, HTC, Kyocera, LG, Motorola and Samsung.
They all use various tweaked versions of the Google Android mobile operating system. Not all of them can access and use the same portfolio of Android applications. Samsung leads the pack with its Galaxy tablet and apps store.
The Apple iOS is limited to iPod, iPhone & iPAD devices from its proprietary range and is fully compatible across them.
ComScore's end April 2011 report for Apps downloads in 2010 for the USA market has a 47.5 million tally for Apple and 23.8 million for the Android, making a 66% : 33% split. In Europe the 2/3rd : 1/3rd share is also reflected as 28.9m to 13.4m apps downloads respectively.
Amazon FIRE is more than a device - it is a rich content platform
Jeff Bezos has boldly led the Kindle eReader device application to its vast bookstore resource. There are 700,000 titles available on the Kindle library. He has allowed downloads onto iPAD devices which currently contribute 20% of Kindle downloads! Kindle readers can highlight passages and share with networks on Facebook and Twitter. Kindle enjoys a 62% share of the global eBook market.
The FIRE tablet will serve Amazon's eBook, music, games & movie libraries with direct linkages to social media platforms. Unlike Apple, it is closed to independent apps developers. There is no risk of malware.
FIRE can access near one million books, 17 million songs, 100,000 movies & TV shows plus a growing array of games.
FIRE users will also benefit from Amazon's 'cloud' for content storage and retrieval at no cost. A new browser called SILK runs faster than the others because it is configured on Amazon's data servers and primarily accesses Amazon content on them.
Jeff Bezos has already exploited Apple's conflict with newspaper and magazine publishers by offering the FIRE platform with full sharing of user data.
FIRE has no camera so it is not designed to be a digital camera substitute. That is not why Amazon fans buy Kindles.
Consumers can now look forward to rich content for different purposes from Amazon and Apple. All Amazon content can be downloaded onto Apple devices too. The FIRE is much cheaper at US$199 compared to the lowest iPAD at US$499.
ENDS
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