Nelson firm gains inside track on the new iPhone

MARTIN DE RUYTER/Nelson Mail

FIRST IN: Matthew Hamilton, left, and Gareth Laws of Nelson company NetMaestro are developing an application for the new iPhone.

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A Nelson web company has been selected as one of 5000 businesses worldwide to develop an application for the new iPhone 3G being launched next month.

NetMaestro managing director Gareth Laws said it was a "massive" opportunity for the company to be one of the first out of the starting blocks.

Among numerous other features, Apple's iPhone 3G will offer an "App Store" that allows users to select and download various applications - games, business, finance, healthcare and social networking - to name a few that make use of its new technology.

About 25,000 businesses applied to Apple to provide applications for the store, Mr Laws said.

"I imagine all will be approved at some point but there's a bit of a race right now as to who gets to the market first. It's a bit of a land-grab."

The company spent $10,000 attending a developers' conference in San Francisco last week and "did have to beg them a bit to make it happen", Mr Laws said.

It now had a team of four working on getting an application to Apple to check and verify before the new iPhone launch on July 11, he said.

"Of the 5000, I expect 1000 to be ready. We know time is against us but we really do need to get in there to be up with the race."The application it is working on is an iPhone game called Disco Fingers, similar to Simon Says. The game design has been kept simple so it can be updated regularly with "new skins".

It is expected to cost between 49c and 99c for users to download.

"We wanted to get it really cheap so people don't think twice about using it."

Apple retains 30 percent of each download charge, with the developers getting 70 percent.

Mr Laws said 10 million iPhones were expected to be in use worldwide by the end of the year. "It's the first mobile device offering a seriously good, enjoyable web-browsing experience."

The iPhone gained 35 percent of the United States' cellphone market within a year, yet it accounted for 70 percent of all mobile Internet web surfing, he said.

The New Zealand price for the iPhone 3G has not yet been established but it is expected to retail for $US199 ($NZ261.54) in the United States.

- © Fairfax NZ News