A few months ago I wrote a short blog as part of OPEN09 focusing on the future of the web. One of the posts that I wrote was in response to a presentation by Mark Pincus, CEO of Zynga at the Web 2.0 Summit which took place in San Francisco back in October 2009. In particular, it was Pincus’s definition of Web 3.0 as the App Economy that I responded to. I suggested that downloadable content in the form of apps, even if only through the iPhone App Store, has proven that the business model works, but that for this to become a dominant model for monetizing content and services, paid-for apps would need to extend beyond mobile devices and onto desktops/into desktop browsers.
Since writing that post there have been two fairly significant announcements that I believe suggest the wider adoption of this approach for monetization on other formats. However, neither of which are your desktop computer.
Just before Christmas 2009 the BBC Trust gave it’s provisional approval to Project Canvas, the working title given to the proposed partnership project between BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, BT and talktalk, which will provide viewers with Internet-enabled television sets and a broadband connection with access to on-demand services such as BBC iPlayer, ITV Player and 4oD through their televisions rather than their computers. The project is also focusing on developing a set of technical and content standards to enable third party developers to create apps for your TV. The Next Web team provided a nice analogy of this side of the project by comparing Project Canvas to the iPhone App Store;
Apple brought the magic of internet applications, combined with specific mobile phone features, to the mobile phone. Project Canvas is bringing the magic of internet applications, combined with specific television features, to your tv set.
The second announcement was of Apple’s hugely anticipated tablet, now known as the iPad. The announcement was met with mixed views from the tech community, largely due to the fact that people couldn’t quite place where it fit into Apple’s arsenal of desirable gadgetry. Is it a larger iPod Touch? Is it a touch-screen MacBook? Or is it simply Apple’s e-reader? Although the public’s understanding of the technical spec of the iPad is now growing, I expect that the jury will remain out on how the iPad will be used, at least until the app development community get their apps onto the iPad App Store, or more specifically when consumers let their currency dictate in what direction the development community will lead the iPad. Whether this be publishing, gaming, photo-editing and retouching, music or healthcare, I am sure that the team at Apple will be watching very attentively to determine what additional features get included in the iPad 2G.
Both of these announcements certainly demonstrate how the app store model might work beyond mobile, and although the ‘openness’ of these marketplaces is likely to be the subject of fierce contention, the empowerment of third party developers to provide the lifeblood for these markets is certainly good news for content creators in the North West.
