With over 100,000 apps, over 150,000 developers in its developer program, over 50 million iPhones and iPod touch customers and robust quarter on quarter performances, Apple, with its iPhone and the app store, has transformed the mobile market irreversibly.

There has to be a set of compelling reasons for a change of this magnitude to take place. With the iPhone and with its developer program and the app store Apple has given an avenue for individuals and businesses to sharpen both their business acumen and creativity.

A New Delivery Channel

iPhone has a huge ‘cool’ factor. This is true both for individuals and businesses. Its large and growing user base has drawn attention to itself. Companies have also woken up to the fact that serious businesses can be conducted on the go. The iPhone and iPod touch have emerged as new channels for delivering services, creating awareness and promoting products.

By having apps for tax computations, keeping a vigil on mission critical processes running in hospitals, delivering corporate trainings as podcasts, the iPhone has established itself as an important mainstream tool for productivity and efficiency in corporations and lives of professionals.

Business Acumen in Companies

Establishing a direct channel from the corporation to the end-user where feedback travels through word of mouth and with the speed of an SMS requires great business acumen. Tapping into and taming the iPhone channel requires speed and acumen. Business leaders are now dealing directly with end-users who have always known to have short attention spans. Succeeding here implies building iPhone apps that mirror the positioning, customer focus and quality of organizations – all in a small app.

Business Acumen of Individuals and Creativity

The sheer simplicity of the iPhone app and the quick turnaround time of making one available have created thousands of entrepreneurs. A good number of these are individuals or small groups of individuals. By creating apps and exposing their creation to a potential 50 million users worldwide, not only have these people given a huge fillip to creativity (their own and that of others) but have also taken on the ultimate challenge of facing an enormously large body of critics. This can only make them better.

Exciting Times Ahead

Anything that has such a huge positive impact is bound to grow. The iPhone thus promises to do wonders for the category it has created and for all (which really means ‘all’) who are going to be touched by it.

 
Shobha