"As of Saturday morning, by this count (which doesn't include apps available only overseas), there were 251,007 applications from 50,304 publishers available for download for the iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. AppShopper.com, which keeps a similar list, has the total at 253,777 apps, including 24,334 for the iPad."
Apple holds the whip hand in the current situation--in three ways. First of all, its dominance of the digital media scene will go unchallenged, as that's the portal that music users go to first. Secondly, its amazing riches means that it can sit on Lala for as long as it likes without doing anything, perhaps waiting until Spotify turns its back on the States before it starts to phase in what Spotify's Daniel Ek calls "next-generation music industry"--that is, access to music rather than ownership--on its own terms.
It’s all about long-term, sustaining relationships,” he told me, something that mobile phone companies have been practicing for years. Apple’s tablet could be the first major computing device aside from today’s smartphones to move towards such a service-based model.
"..the biggest question, at least in my mind, is what Apple intends to do for new music. Will it automatically allow any purchased track to be streamed for free? Will it offer a subscription plan for streaming of music that’s not currently in a user’s collection?"
"I found an old Hewlett-Packard slate computer under my desk and showed the width of the screen to try to illustrate what a potential 10-inch device might look like."
Founder @ Dearing Group LLC.
George can be reached via email at george@dearinggroup.com or on Twitter, and Facebook Subscribe to this site via RSS here.
