When every I visit brands or ad agencies these days their primary interest is in creating an iphone app. In the last year alone brands such as Guinness, Nike, Pepsi, Tesco, Disney, Volkswagen, Walkers and Starbucks (to name just a few) have developed their own apps. And many more have branded existing apps.

In some ways the focus on the iphone doesn’t make sense: there are moreBlackberry users out there, and Nokia have with largest share with over 38% of the smartphone market.

So what is it about the iphone that is so appealing to brands?

I see two (or perhaps three) main reasons:
1. Creating multi-platform apps is costly and difficult. Delivering them to different handsets is also problematic. The iphone offers a simple means to do this, especially delivery via the app store.
2. iphone apps gain PR in a way that developments for other platforms do not. The PR alone can be worth the cost of development.
(3. The iphone is a cool brand, and other brands want to be associated with it).

As this is such an extensive subject area, I have written a guide on developing iphone apps for brands … click the link!