By Mark Jones
Is Apple losing its shine? Has the gloss rubbed off? I could go on, but you get it. There's a distinct lack of unbridled excitement for iPad 3 (“new iPad” really is a very silly name).
Think of any other iPhone or iPad launch. Wall-to-wall gushing in the press, in pubs, dinner parties, offices. Now? Not so much.
App store managers now hold the keys to the computing kingdom.Credit: Reuters
And I say this as a small business owner who's bought an iPad 2, four iMacs, two MacBook Pros, and four iPhones for our employees. I'd otherwise join the fanboys waiting for a midnight Apple launch if it wasn't for the fact that, as a father of small children, sleep trumps no sleep every time.
So what's going on? Is it the post-Steve Jobs era, where suddenly his magic has faded? I don't buy it. The innovation machine at Apple is well oiled.
My take is this: we've got gadget fatigue. Sure, iPad 3's got a shiny new screen. But here's how I'd summarise the fanboy reaction: “Yew! New iPad! [awkward pause] So . . . um, what's next?” And honestly, it's about time.
There's a much bigger, more compelling story being written. Both Apple and Google/Android's mobile devices have enjoyed such phenomenal success because of the real secret weapon we don't read much about – the app store.
Think about it. When was the last time you bought a shrink-wrapped box of software on CDs and waited impatiently while the app installed? It just doesn't happen unless you're in specialist industries like graphic design.
The wider business sector has largely abandoned the practice thanks to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) which pre-install and pre-configure the computing machine of your choice with the apps you need.
Another sign of the times is the MacBook Air. It doesn't have a DVD drive because Steve Jobs knew you don't need it. And so the humble app is following the same path as music, ditching physical media for downloads.
There's two reasons why this matters.
First, it's making us addicted to mobile apps. They're cheap, or free, and there's more than 2 million to choose from. And stunningly, we've collectively downloaded these apps billions of times. In fact, 1.2 billion mobile apps were downloaded in the last week of 2012 alone, according to Deloitte. I'll let you do the maths, but let's assume that rate keeps up and it's quickly apparent we're talking about a seriously disruptive trend.
The second big deal is the sleeper issue - the app store. We don't read a lot about app stores themselves, but that might change. Why? Because app stores are the disruptive forces that are taking over where our passion for gadgets left off.
We've got a few choices including Apple's App Store and others run by Amazon, Google, Android developers, Blackberry and Nokia. They're a big deal because app store managers now hold the keys to the computing kingdom. They know that mobile app makers are nothing without an app store – selling mobile apps on the open web just isn't a viable option.
But these newly crowned princes of computing, closely guarding their mobile fiefdoms, are about to have their dominance challenged. The issue is that large companies who collectively employ millions of people in Australia are getting the app store bug. In their world, if you've just spent a tidy sum developing a custom app for employees, why on earth would you give Apple money to manage the process of getting it out to their mobile devices?
You wouldn't, hence the birth of the company app store era. Deloitte, a multinational professional services company, is one of the companies that's sniffed an opportunity here and recently acquired US-based mobile app developer Übermind. To me it's a sign of a healthy market for both enterprise apps and private app stores.
And the appeal of a private app store is clear: own the store, control the devices. For IT managers, long starved of control since the consumer gadget revolution ripped away their purchasing power, it's like a breath of fresh digital air.
Deloitte's US Consulting chief technology officer, Mark White, could see my point but he gently steered me away suggesting enterprise app stories give employees access to tested, trusted, and secure apps. He's got a point, and that message will ring nicely in a CIO's ears.
The trouble is I don't think anyone's told Apple yet. Is there any chance your new iPad will sync with the Apple App Store and a privately run corporate app store? Unlikely. Perhaps some cheeky jail-breaking might do the trick, but it's a battle yet to commence.
And it will happen. History tells us that once the early hype passes, it's time for the rest of us to go shopping. And there's an app store for that.
Mark Jones is editorial director at Filtered Media, and a former IT Editor at the Australian Financial Review.
mark@filteredmedia.com.au