It's the Software, Stupid

Mar 6, 10:51 PM  

Even though no one talks about them as different phones, Apple has released three iPhone models since launch. They’re all iPhones. They all work the same way, run the same software, let you do the same things. (And until the 3G iPhone is released, storage space will remain the only distinction.)

Today, Apple released the iPhone Software Developer Kit, a set of tools that allow people to develop applications for the iPhone and easily distribute them over the air. This is the realization of an entirely different way of thinking about phones. While the hardware is important, it’s all about the software.

Most users really don’t care about SDKs, but they’re vital to a healthy developer ecosystem. Without having an SDK, the iPhone already had a vibrant, heathy community of developers hacking away at the phone. Now that the barriers to getting applications on every iPhone are lowered, that community is going to explode. (In the good way.)

In the coming months, we’re going to see a lot of new applications: some good, a few great, a lot of okay ones. They are already swarming to address every shortcoming listed for the iPhone. My head spins thinking about how location-based services are going to change how we interact. (GPS photo tagging? Rendezvous-based chats? Proximity sensors? The mind boggles at the possibilities.)

And all this will be available to the entire installed iPhone base. No one gets left out. You do not have to buy another $500 device to get a few new features if you have an old model — just get the new software. Which, in turn, will lead to more people buying your (new) models.

This seems so simple. But in the phone industry, this is revolutionary.

Instead of selling you a specific model and forcing you to purchase a new device to get additional features, Apple has taken the route of selling the platform that can be easily extended. Users can buy those features they want. The iPhone becomes both a video player, enterprise communicator, gaming console, and social network hub — all on the same device.

Because it’s all about the software.