World of Apple

MSNBC recently spoke to several companies who have intentions to bring turn-by-turn GPS navigation to the iPhone via a third-party app. Although offering few details TomTom confirmed for a second time that they still intend to offer a GPS navigation application:

“We have made our navigation system run on the iPhone; it looks good and works very well,” said Dutch-based company TomTom, in a statement to msnbc.com. “We will have to look more closely to Apple’s strategy before we can say more about what kind of opportunities this will bring us.”

It is currently unknown what exactly the delay is in bringing such applications to market but it was believed that a limitation in the iPhone SDK prevented deployment of GPS navigation applications. This was later debunked by Greg Joswiak who said that the situation was “complicated”.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal Apple CEO, Steve Jobs has revealed some facts and figures about the App Store which has now been live for one month.

According to Jobs more than 60 million applications have been downloaded for the iPhone and iPod touch, roughly 2 million per day. Revenue from those 60 million applications was $30 million, 70% went to developers, 30% was kept by Apple.

According to the Wall Street Journal if Apple continues at its current sales pace then the company stands to take in at least $360 million over the year in revenue.

“This thing’s going to crest a half a billion, soon,” Jobs said. “Who knows, maybe it will be a $1 billion marketplace at some point in time.”

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my career for software,” he added.

Jobs also commented on stories last week that Apple had built an internal “kill-switch” into the iPhone which could allow the company to remotely disable applications.

“Hopefully we never have to pull that lever, but we would be irresponsible not to have a lever like that to pull,” he said.

In addition to selling over 1 million iPhones, Apple has also announced that downloads from the App Store topped 10 million. More than 800 native applications are now available on the App Store, with more than 200 offered for free and more than 90 percent priced at less than $10.

“The App Store is a grand slam, with a staggering 10 million applications downloaded in just three days,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Developers have created some extraordinary applications, and the App Store can wirelessly deliver them to every iPhone and iPod touch user instantly.”

Apple has today officially released the iPhone App Store just in time for the iPhone 3G going on sale on July 11. These apps will be available on Apple’s revolutionary new App Store, enabling customers to wirelessly download them directly onto their iPhones and start using them immediately. More than 125 applications are being offered to iPhone customers for free.

“iPhone represents a new software platform for developers, combining the most advanced mobile operating system, sophisticated developer tools and a breakthrough way for developers to wirelessly sell and distribute their applications right onto every iPhone,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The reaction from developers has been very, very positive and we’re opening the App Store with over 500 native iPhone applications available for immediate purchase and download.”

The App Store will offer over 500 native applications from hundreds of companies around the world in a variety of categories including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel.

“iPhone enables The Associated Press to deliver news in a way that simply wasn’t possible before,” said Benjamin Mosse, director of Mobile Products, The Associated Press. “Taking advantage of iPhone’s revolutionary location-based services, our Mobile News network can capture and store local news stories that can be read by users even when they’re offline and our award winning photography and AP video are displayed in stunning clarity on its high resolution screen.”

“iPhone is changing the entire mobile industry and has quickly become the number one mobile device for accessing eBay,” said Ken G. Sun, group product manager, eBay Mobile. “Users can shop, track bids and get great deals from the largest online marketplace in the world directly from their iPhone. We couldn’t deliver such a complete and easy-to-use eBay experience on any other mobile device and iPhone users can download it free from the new App Store.”

“iPhone is one of the most popular ways for people to enjoy Facebook on-the-go and we’re excited to deliver a great native application via the App Store,” said Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook. “Facebook is even cooler on the iPhone 3G, with the ability to discover friends nearby, or to effortlessly take pictures and upload them instantly to their Facebook account.”

“The global MySpace community will love MySpace Mobile on iPhone,” said Chris DeWolfe, CEO and Co-Founder of MySpace. “With rich features such as seamless photo uploading from iPhone to your MySpace profile, the MySpace Mobile application is gorgeous and as intuitive as possible—empowering the community with complete control over their global MySpace network right from the palm of their hand.”

“Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch open up the world of games to an entirely new audience,” said David Cobb, vice president of Product Development, Sega. “The touch and tilt controls are natural and easy to learn, making gaming even more inviting, creative and rewarding. Super Monkey Ball takes advantage of these defining aspects and offers consumers an extremely accessible, imaginative and fun game experience. Whether an iPhone owner is new to games, or has been a fan for years, they will be intrigued and engaged by Super Monkey Ball and this progressive way to interact with entertainment.”

“With an iPhone in your pocket, you’ll never roam alone,” said Jeffrey Glueck, CMO of Travelocity. “From finding the nearest hotel with just a few taps to checking your flight status in a snap, the magic of iPhone lets us put tools that no one has ever seen before in the hands of travelers.”

App Store on iTunes

The majority of apps appear to be Free or priced at $9.99 (£5.99).

Apple has also included an application that it has built in-house called Remote (iTunes Link). Remote is available for free and is described as having the ability to control music on your computer or Apple TV from an iPhone or iPod touch.