By Dana Hashem
Stop press. Just a month after it announced 85,000 apps loaded onto the App Store, Apple has reached a staggering new milestone. Yes, 100,000 apps are already here, and they're drawing iAddicts through Apple's legendary virtual doors like moths to a flame.
This impressive figure seemingly leaves the Android app market paling in comparison, but can Apple really afford to rest on its laurels? According to a recent study, if an app doesn't make it into the top 1000 listings on the Apple website, the chances it will be downloaded onto more than 1.67% of iPhones is pretty slim. While this may not present much of a hurdle to Apple's business model - after all, nobody points the finger at Tesco when a new product won't shift from its shelves - it certainly puts the figures into perspective, and raises the ominous question of whether Android will stay in the rearview mirror for long.
With so many apps storming through its approval process, Apple has to tread carefully if it's to maintain the brand integrity that forms the foundations upon which its mighty empire stands - and the road to app domination has not been without its hiccups.
You all know what I'm talking about. Whatever possessed the powers that be to pass the infamous Baby Shaker app will always remain beyond the comprehension of any self-respecting PR, and the subsequent media fallout serves as a lesson to us all in how the tides of social media can turn in an instant.
The alarm bells were ringing in the blogosphere just hours after the app went live, and thanks to the rapid viral online spread of the story, it was hard for the national media to miss. Somehow, reassurance from developer Sikalosoft that 'no babies were harmed in the making of this application' didn't quite seem to cut it, and Apple came under heavy fire for approving the app.
Of course, Apple has since learned to take a more cautious approach to vetting its apps, endeavouring to position itself as more 'moral watchdog' than 'heartless corporation'. Rest assured everyone - since the Baby Shaker blip, the company has valiantly saved us all from heresy by rejecting the Me so holy app, and also saw fit to deprive us of the tempting opportunity to part with $999.99 by banning the intentionally dispensable I am rich app.
And lo, the world is a better place. Rather than passing the buck, it paid off for Apple to acknowledge its mistake and take corrective action as soon as the story broke – leaving the somewhat less contrite Sikalosoft to take the worst of the flack.
So will Apple lose out to Droid in the end? Only time will tell, but with a wisened PR strategy and unstoppable momentum, it doesn't look like this app giant will be giving up its lead anytime soon.
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