• CNet News.com, Friday, July 11, 2008 12:45 PM

Apple on Thursday officially launched its highly-anticipated iPhone App Store, making more than 550 third-party applications instantly available for the coveted iPhone, whose 3G model was officially unveiled this morning at Apple stores across the globe. CNet's Caroline McCarthy claims that while Apple platform seems to have little in common with the social networking platform wars started by Facebook last year, the iPhone, in embracing third party developers, should now be considered a legitimate competitor to the major social networks.

How so? "(The iPhone is) a device that's made for 'social,'" claims Bart Decrem, founder of Tapulous, a start-up firm that has released three iPhone games thus far. "This is a device that's always connected, that's always on you, it knows where you are, you can take pictures with it, and you can send messages with it." Indeed, ask any new iPhone owner, and they'll tell you they rarely leave the mobile device out of their sight. As such, if more people spend more time on their iPhones and less time on their Macs and PCs, developers might decide to shift their focus from developing applications for social networks, to developing apps for the iPhone.

There's also another big reason, McCarthy says: money. Ask any developer and they'll tell you that unless your name is Slide or Rock You, it isn't easy making money selling ads through Facebook apps. Apple, however, gives developers the option to sell their apps, taking a 30% cut of sales. As developer/blogger Jesse Farmer says, "People who are sort of disillusioned with social networks and haven't found a way to succeed. ... I can see them moving over and trying it out."

Read the whole story at CNet News.com »