Business Anywhere Blog

With today’s release of iPhone 3G, or should I say iBricks, Apple has ushered in a new era. It is not about the coolest handset. It is the 2nd coming of software. Some might say a bubble and admonish with the still raw reminders of the web bubble. I see the beginnings of a mobile software golden age. As this Reuter’s report by Eric Auchard points out,

Whether it’s faster Web speeds, security for business users or using  the phone’s direction-finding capability to let it act as a game  controller or location-aware device, it’s software, not hardware, that should define the iPhone from here out.

This also borne out be the fact that Nokia has announced the Symbian Foundation and the Ovi store, not to mention the VCast from Verizon, which I think was the original store for mobile software, albeit not as open as Apple’s. Handset vendors have figured that they will not be able to make money just be selling hardware. They need the software to make their hardware cool. Further, they want a piece of action that until now, was in operator domain.

This move by handset vendors and other platform vendors, has to worry the operators. In coming months, I expect to see more such stores launched, especially by the operators as they try to maintain their hegemony. Also, look for Google, Yahoo and Microsoft to make more noise in this area.