Reading the November 2, issue of BusinessWeek where the cover story is about the business of "apps" triggered an interesting discussion with a friend who is novice app designer. According to their cover article, apps are no longer just about games & will soon explode as an integral business tool. The question I put to my friend is what are some ways small business can leverage this new tool aside from writing documents & retrieving email. According to BusinessWeek the most obvious untapped use for small business is as a payment tool. My friend demurred because while he has some thoughts on how small business can benefit/profit from apps, they are not quite ready for "prime time." As a result, I thought I'd throw the question out there to you: if you own a small business, what would you like to be able to do straight from your smartphone that cannot be done today. Let your imagination run wild.
Apps As a Business: It's The Real Thing
As you ponder the question consider Zynga's runaway success in their app "Farmville" on Facebook where people manage a plot of land, buying animals, crops, & other "necessities" for their virtual homestead. The cost of these items are seemingly "small potatoes:" under a dollar, maybe slightly over but that's all. So how much money has the parent company made in their short time in business? How about 100 million dollars which just goes to show that as a business, "apps" can be a very big deal.
Comments