Too many people say they cannot live without their cell phone. They talk on them, they take pictures with it, they text people with it, they shop with it, they schedule things with it; they play games and entertain themselves with it.  Then iPhone from Apple could be considered more of a lifestyle device that helps organizes one’s business and personal life.

Software is content and the more you can add value, the better.  People are solving real problems with the apps from the apps store and improving their lives.  Marketers are interested in creating valuable and useful utilities for consumers to improve their lives through the use of their cell phones which most people surveyed said they could not live without.

Currently there are two types of applications for the iPhone and other mobile cell phone devices: Web application and native application.  Native applications allocate richer experiences and take advantage of the features and traits that are already built into a phone such as a motion sensor, camera or sound card.

Web applications for the iPhone already exist from app developers for iPhone and the fact that they are accessible through the Safari browser; they don’t look all that much like a webpage.  For many marketers, Web applications will continue to be the best way to go for their companies.  It is nearly impossible for a marketer to create a native mobile application to run across multiple handsets in addition to cell phone service providers because they all run on different platforms.  A marketer would have to build at least seven or more separate applications, while Web apps are restricted to what a web browser will support, they offer great scale.

Marketers are now taking money that used to be earmarked for paid advertisements and setting out to find iPhone developers to develop utilities or content that can offer deeper engagement and ongoing utility.

In the past couple of years much of the buzz about mobile marketing has centered on the idea of mobile advertising and importing the ‘paid display advertising’ model in the mobile phone.  This all changed when the iPhone app store made itself available to iPhone developers.  This is a new kind of mobile marketing, one that takes advantage of the medium and enhances something users want to do anyways – shop.  Making sure there is a specific reason or need for an application is almost as important as determining whether a marketer’s audience can be found on the mobile device.

Many banks have nice online banking applications while large brand named shipping companies allow their customers to process their shipments all through iPhone applications all because of the web application process developers are using for the Apple iPhone.