AppStore: One Month Later

During an interview, Steve Jobs unveiled the first results of the AppStore, the online store dedicated to iPhone and iPod Touch applications, one month after its launch. Users have downloaded more than 60 million programs, and while most of them were freeware, it generated more than 30 million USD in sales over the month. Among the 30% of the latest will be dedicated to Apple (maintenance, server, transactions costs, etc.) while 70% will go to the developers. As with the previous iPod/iTS ecosystem, the AppStore's goal is not to generate important revenues by selling applications to users, but rather to boost iPhone (current models and forthcoming ones) and iPod Touch sales. As indicated by Steve Jobs, the mobile phone of the future will be differentiated by software.
Developers were also surprised by the enthusiasm of users for the AppStore and the corresponding sales. As one could have expected it, video games were a clear winning category. Sega announced to have sold 300,000 copies of Super Monkeyball within 20 days (at 9.99 USD/copy, 3 millions USD of revenue), making the iPhone a viable and mobile gaming platform to be considered in the future according to Simon Jeffery, president of Sega's U.S. division. Steve Jobs indicated that over the 21 millions USD dedicated to developers, the top 10 ones captured 9 millions USD.
However, one should not think that everything is bright and beautiful in the AppStore kingdom. Some developers were/are complaining of having their applications removed from the AppStore without any notice or explanation. Alphabetical ranking of applications on the AppStore was also heavily criticized, some companies changing the name of their software to be the first to be displayed. Some users are also experiencing incompatibility issues with some applications, and developers have to release multiple patches to try to deal with them. However, the AppStore seems to be a success, and T-Mobile is rumored to work on a similar online shop dedicated to applications for all mobile phone models. It would not be the first time that Apple is showing the way to go to the rest of the industry.