Apple iPhone: Cash Cow for Entrepreneurs?
The Apple iPhone has been creating a tremendous amount of buzz around the internet ever since Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced it a few months ago in January 2006.
Scheduled for a U.S release in 9 days on the 29th of June, the sleek iPhone is an extremely attractive gadget that is simultaneously a touchscreen phone, multimedia player, camera phone and web tool with wireless connectivity.
For businesses, entrepreneurs and even bloggers, the iPhone is an powerful niche market with a great amount of monetary potential. Websites centered around the Apple iPhone have been sprouting up as more people are searching for information concerning the iPhone.
These websites were created even before the iPhone was released and I expect to see a lot more Apple iPhone websites after the launch date and as mods and iPhone compatible products are developed by third-party businesses or Apple itself.
How Profitable is the Apple iPhone Niche Market?
The Apple iPhone niche is profitable. But how lucrative is it really? Let’s do a brief case study of a Apple iPhone website that’s been around for several months. The website in question is the Apple iPhone blog, a iPhone concept and design blogspot blog created by Okan Vardarova.
As you can probably tell from the screenshot, this blog has a unique design with all the content skewed towards the right. There is also very little textual content as it consists mainly of pictures. What is fascinating is that this blog is ranked #4 on Google for the term Apple iPhone and #6 for the term iPhone.
The site was recently put up for sale by its owner and a thread on the Digital Point forum was created for an auction. The owner provided some very interesting details about the amount of traffic the site receives, along with its Adsense earnings.
According to the owner, he made $600 in 18 days within the month of June and nearly $10K in 8 months through Adsense alone. The blog also receives approximately an average of 5,432 unique visitors a day and I believe the bulk of it comes from search engines and links on other websites.
What is worth noting is that the website’s last blog post was 6 months ago so the income and traffic figures are passive and based entirely on old content with zero updates.
Here is the link to the websites’s traffic stats along with a screenshot:
Projecting Apple iPhone’s Contextual Ads and Traffic Potential
I thought that the Adsense earnings for the blog was absolutely fantastic because it had an unconventional design scheme with only two rectangle ad units.
I’m sure the earnings from the site would have been a lot more if it utilized a traditional blog format, with well optimized ad placement on single post pages. Not to mention if regular content were created on daily basis, which will very likely increase it’s income potential.
At the moment, there seems to be a general lack of advertisers for the iPhone, largely because it hasn’t launched yet. As a result of this, the blog currently displays ads for Dell, Blackberry and used iPods instead of iPhone ads alone. A search on the Adwords Keyword Tool for Apple iPhone confirms the lack of advertiser competition.
When the iPhone is released, more businesses will start utilizing Pay Per Click advertising through Adwords, thereby resulting in more relevant contextual Adsense ads. It’s reasonable to assume that the click through rate will increase considerably, hence leading to even greater profit.
Like the iPod, I’m absolutely certain that the actual search figures will see a big jump after the Apple iPhone is launched. Expect reviews, iPhone customizations and products to fill the marketplace, thereby enticing even more search traffic.
Money Making Tip to Take Away
Vardarova built his Apple iPhone site in October 2006, supposedly when rumors of the Apple iPhone started to surface. This was even before the official announcement by Steve Jobs in January 2007.
I’ll like to think that getting into the market very early (with a great domain name) and a unique concept had some impact on the blog’s search rankings and overall audience size.
The next time you hear a rumor from a big company, take an extra step and set up a basic website. It might just be the best move you’ve made a few months down the road.
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Very good information.
I completely agree with you about taking an extra step to be the first to market when you hear rumors or know some buzz is coming for a particular product. I actually just finished writing a post about this same idea (not with the iPhone though) for the first post on my blog.
Yes Indeed it is a great niche. If you could see at technorati popular search, you will find apple and iPhone on top. This is surely a good and profitable niche.
Looks like Okan Vardarova did very well, a fine example of niche blogging crossed with a bit of domaining.
yes, very good observation
thanks for pointing this case
You information is usefull thank you.
Great case study, really. I like your conclusion also. Maybe it is now wise to start creating a blog on Google presentations?
BTW, could I possibly push in a bit of my own promotion? This summer Profy is running a competition and giving away 5 free iPhones to our readers. Here you will find the conditions if interested.
Did you know that, the seller has gave up to sell the blog because of Blogger’s terms of service
I guess following the buzz can be really good some times
I will try to rank top 10 and see if can make it in 3-5 months
That is great info. It’s very important to know how to win visitors strategically by commenting or posting early about things that haven’t surfaced yet. I’m going to try something like that, maybe about an event in my town that hasn’t begun yet. Dosh Dosh is so great by sending info. like this. Visit me at my blog if you can (click on my name).
But, but, the iPhone is only available via at&t. Who else is going to be advertising it?
HMTKSteve,
I’m aware of that. I would say third party companies who produce add-ons, spin-offs, knock-offs, rip-offs, refurbished iPhone-related paraphernalia/culture.
Jude,
How did you know that the blogger had to sell the site because of Blogger’s TOS?
A great article.
I guess what really makes it the most valuable is the advice at the end.
However, I can’t understand why he has sold it for $4k. What was he thinking?!
It seams his reasoning for selling the site was ”
because I don’t want to take my money from adsense month by month. I need big money for Interrail.”. Hmm…
I guess he could have made that amount ($4k) in a few days by doing some affiliate stuff once the iPhone is launched. Oh well…
Talk about striking while the iron is hot! Find a niche before it’s even released, set up a site and profit.
I think the lesson to learn here is to capitalize on the marketing buzz of large companies/products, and start early.
This is awesome stuff. That blog could earn a lot more if there was a different approach.. Such a shame…
>How did you know that the blogger had to sell the site because of Blogger’s TOS?
Because it says so on the Sitepoint thread you quote.
“I Give Up To Sell The Blog Because Of Blogger’s Terms Of Use Thank You For All Your Understandings Guys”
Need to update your article methinks .
He probably sold out now because he knows the party is over. The big boys are coming to town and the likelihood of his site staying so high in the search rankings is low.
Thanks Matt,
It’s Digital Point and not SitePoint btw. Won’t be updating my article as I think the reason why he sold it is pretty irrelevant to the actual point of the piece: the monetary potential of the Apple iPhone niche.
interesting concept - his blog is now ranked close to 8th when I checked - but still not bad.
As for selling a blogger blog - i would never think to that - instead just buy an $8 domain name…
This is an eye-opening article! I’m glad I read it.
Good job, Maki
i wonder about the security features on this phone being someone who works in the industry & need to update from a old Nokia n80 to a new smartphone model i wonder what security issue will pop up after this phone “blows up”
I do not know how successful the upcoming iPhone is going to be. What I can say is that very few people are aware of this patented device, US patent #7,072,569 and how the iPod infringes. Is Steve Jobs ready to reveal to the world that the iPod is an infringing device. By using the technology invented by someone else he has become very successful. Is he prepared to pay the royalties for using patented technology. Let the Blogs speak the truth.
Hi Maki,
I am very impressed with the analysis you made. I only thought of creating a Squidoo lens on iPhone few days ago. But after some search, there are already many iPhone related lenses being created. I always love your “money making tip to take away” which concludes the message you are trying to convey. Great post!
Regarding the Blogger TOS thing at the DigitalPoint forum, my understanding is that the blog auction is cancelled due to the Blogger TOS not allowing blogs to be sold. I’m not sure, I can be wrong in understanding the owner’s English.
Nevertheles, this is a great post!
Maki, Thanks for your reply.
>think the reason why he sold it is pretty irrelevant to the actual point of the piece: the monetary potential of the Apple iPhone niche.
I’d have thought that a simple error - not bothering to read the Blogger terms - that cost him 25% of the potential value of the entire project was pretty relevant. Anyway - your blog, your call.
I also found the nature of the traffic interesting - no less that 57% of his uniques from the entire 9 months came in a single week.
I have analysed both of these and commented at the url on my name.
Cheers for an excellent article.
Matt,
Thanks for your message. Like I said, the point of the article was concerning the profitability of the niche and how getting in early was a smart thing to do. Whether or not he flips the site for a profit or loss doesn’t affect the general industry or other websites.
In my opinion, its a personal error on his part and nothing else, really. On the other hand, I finally got the time to go through the Digital Point thread again and looks like the comment about the Blogger TOS notice came after I posted the article.
I’ve since removed the line which states that he sold the website.
Thanks again for your commentary and thoughts.
Fine - thanks for the swift responses.
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