Many of you know that Apple recently announced their SDK for the iPhone and iPod Touch. During their announcement they also took time to announce that Kleiner Perkings Caufield & Byers will be investing $100 million of venture capital into companies that will be developing applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
FUNDING INNOVATION
$100 million dollars is a lot of money, especially since developers will be essential building applications for one mobile device. The fact that KPCB is willing to put so much capital behind the iPhone/iPod Touch is that they see an amazing Future with these Apple Mobile Devices.
With a true mobile computing device a completely new market of potential applications and technical solutions will start to be explored. Over the past few years the GPS system has become more and more popular as it was a device that provided people with information and service from anywhere.
This is something the iPhone and iPod Touch will be doing but unlike the GPS which just sends a location signal, the iPhone and iPod Touch have the ability to prompt the user for information, act on it, and send it out to servers across the world.
WHAT COULD CHANGE?
Imagine what Car shopping will be like when you have the ability to pull up the inventory, safety report, and price that other dealers in the area, State, or Country are selling the car for. With an iPhone application optimized to provide such information the customer has all the information needed to make knowledgeable purchasing decisions.
Additionally, imagine sitting at a Major League Baseball game when you get the urge for a hot dog. Instead of waiting for the inning to end to walk to the concession stand, you could use the iPhone or iPod Touch to pull up the Stadium concession’s menu, select your food, and pay for it with your credit card all while enjoying the game. Then the food could be brought to you at your seat.
A customized iPhone App could allow you to enter your Ticket ID number which would identify your seat location. Then professional sports teams could also provide fans with statistics about how often foul balls are hit to that section of the stadium, which parts of the stadium are providing the most vocal support for the home team, and provide additional stats to the fans about the game and players they’re watching.
Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, recently touched on one way that the iPhone/iPod Touch can be used while viewing events at the American Airlines Center during Maverick games and other sporting events. He even sent out inquires to his IT Head to investigate ways that the platform can be used before, during, and after events and by leveraging the WiFi signal in the Arena.
CONCLUSION
The future possibilities of how the iPhone/iPod Touch can be used and applications that developers can provide are truly endless. From purchasing on the go, to being provided with interesting and new information, the iPhone/iPod Touch may have just started to change the way we experience media and entertainment. It seems certain that great things are coming for the iPhone/iPod touch and it looks like the user has everything to gain.
