This isn't surprising at all. Let's lump [iphone, facebook, desktop, etc] apps into three categories: business useful, casual useful, and entertainment.
Business useful: These apps are profitable on platforms that business users are already on. They make money based on any combination of: high margins, long customer lifetime, or volume. The cost and time of changing platforms is high.
Casual useful: These can be profitable on any platform where costs are super low or volume is super high.
Entertainment: These apps are HIT DRIVEN. That means: very low success rate, very very high margins & volume. That being said, entertainment apps thrive on almost every platform.
I guess the corollary from this article is that "shit just got real" and thousands of joe blows with the "next big thing" will start making iphone apps. That's typically what happens when big media starts churning out articles like this, at least.
Further proof that an effective search solution needs to be developed. How easy would it be to develop a plug-in for iTunes that searches better than the current solution?
I prefer the term "discovery". Users need a way to discover things they like, be it through reccomendations, invitations, or google style "I want X, give it to me" search. In a perfect world, these would be designed so that "good" applications bubble to the top.
Business useful: These apps are profitable on platforms that business users are already on. They make money based on any combination of: high margins, long customer lifetime, or volume. The cost and time of changing platforms is high.
Casual useful: These can be profitable on any platform where costs are super low or volume is super high.
Entertainment: These apps are HIT DRIVEN. That means: very low success rate, very very high margins & volume. That being said, entertainment apps thrive on almost every platform.