Apple iPhone Ignites Mobile Marketing with Music, Gaming and Virtual World Apps

To cut through the hype and hero worship surrounding the release on July 11 of the Apple iPhone 2.0 3G, JackMyers Media Business Reportdecided to take the pulse across the industry, speaking with players across the gaming and virtual world landscape as well as those creating solutions for mobile technology. Before a moratorium on all things iPhone is declared, there's more than anecdotal evidence that Apple's App Store is a gamechanger. Internet radio pioneer Pandora, for example, released an app that works seamlessly on the smartphone. Founder Tim Westergren attests that "it has doubled our new registered listener growth," but he's even more bullish that "suddenly there's a new conversation about the implications for broadcast radio." Bigger picture? Just as last year's spring release of the Facebook Platform redrew the landscape in social networking, Apple's mobile platform stands to be not only the driver for gaming, but for virtual worlds.