How Will Interactive Agencies Respond to the Rising Demand for iPhone Applications?
November 6th, 2008 by Kyle OutlawTags: ad agency, agency, apple blog, applications, apps, interactive agency, iphone, itunes, odesk
According to a recent post in The Apple Blog, the demand for iPhone developers is up a whopping 500% within the past 8 months. This is citing a recent press release from oDesk, a technology outsourcing firm. While that number may sound overly bullish, there is clearly a new area of specialization in application design that is evolving as a result of the launch of the iTunes App Store.
Apparently oDesk has been experiencing a rapidly growing demand for iPhone specialists within recent months. The firm currently maintains a network of engineers and consultants in more than 100 countries and has seen an increase from “under 30 to over 140 jobs per month” for developers, programmers, and other consultants who are knowledgeable with the inner workings of the iPhone Software Development Kit.
Companies such as oDesk have been able to establish a considerable niche as a result Apple opening its mobile platform to third-party developers and it will be interesting to see if interactive agencies will follow suit, creating specialized teams dedicated to user experience, creative, and development for third-party iPhone applications. While we’ve seen several interactive agencies create mobile departments within their organizations, teams based on specific mobile platforms would be an entirely new phenomenon.
2 Responses to “How Will Interactive Agencies Respond to the Rising Demand for iPhone Applications?”
That is really interesting, such an increase I bet the stats will only increase for iphone users. I am tempted to buy an iphone but being in the industry I like to look at sites fully so that I can appreciate them. My friend has an iphone and it is really impressive - there should be a section in university courses at the end for any new advances since the start of their course.
Hey Kyle,
I think this isn\’t as difficult as you\’re proposing. Apple\’s done a lot of work to get iPhone app development to the point where anyone with decent object-oriented chops can learn it fairly quickly. It\’s not as bad as having to learn cocoa or Shake, for that matter.
the bigger question may be how larger agencies organize around learning these technologies as they evolve to offer services before a client asks for them in a hurry. Curious what your take is on that.