Mobile App Store Panel

How to protect your app built on an "open" platform from getting squashed. Squash example: twitter buying a mobile client and repackaging it as the twitter-branded client. Have functionality across multiple platforms. Example: App that supports twitter, and facebook and etc.

My Q: in-app purchase support in non-iphone markets? Ans: Not yet.

Mobile apps are a gold rush. We're in the stage where people are showing up in San Francisco asking "where do I dig?". Pickaxe dealers are doing well.

Web App vs Native App

Mobile OSes are diverging (brought up in previous panel). 4 releases of Android. 2 releases of iPhone OS. MeeGo. Symbian. Windows Phone 7. The web as a platform is converging on HTML5. Webkit browsers are taking over. Firefox and Microsoft are committed to HTML5 compatibility.

Monetizing a native iPhone app is simpler due to iTunes familiarity and already established credit card info.