Media Companies, Don't Be App-athetic

(MoneyWatch)  Suddenly, it's all about the apps, and media companies that haven't already done so need to sit up, take notice, and start cranking out code.

Just in the last week, there have been these notable stories and announcements in the seemingly recession-free app universe.

• A New York Times piece on the iPhone app gold rush, which features the success of one game developer who has made $800,000 in five months.
• The opening of Blackberry's App World store last week, which started with 1,000 apps. (By comparison, the iPhone App Store has about 25,000.)
• The opening this week of a Verizon Wireless app store.
• Skype's release of an iPhone app, which helps iPhone owners bypass wireless carriers for making calls.

These developments have everything to do with media, as, increasingly, cell phones become media consumption devices. Among the apps currently available for the Blackberry are ones you might expect from the major social nets, but also ones from Bloomberg, ClearChannel, MTV Networks, The New York Times and Pandora. In other words, media companies who aren't currently part of the apps gold rush had better get on board fast.

Another key indicator that this marketplace is taking off even as others erode: according to the NPD Group, smartphone sales increased to making up 23 percent of all cell phones sold in the fourth quarter of last year, rising from 12 percent share a year earlier, and the price of smartphones has declined by 23 percent in the last year. The pump is being primed. Yes, some of these headlines were no doubt prompted by last week's CTIA Wireless conference in Las Vegas, but trends don't lie.