Phone
Touch the iPhone screen and enter Ochocincos frenetic world. See photos of the Cincinnati Bengals receiver. Link to his Twitter feed. Watch video of him working out. Check out his favorite tunes. See a map that shows where he is today.
All Ochocinco, on the phone screen.
“Its cool,” the receiver said.
And he has his quarterback to thank for it.
No, not Carson Palmer. His younger brother.
Bengals backup quarterback Jordan Palmer spent the offseason working on a business venture with two California friends. Their company develops individualized iPhone applications for athletes, allowing them to connect with fans on the go. They rolled out one for Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez, and expect to have Ochocincos app approved by Apple and launched before the season starts.
Then, who knows?
“Im a big advocate of the iPhone,” Jordan Palmer said. “Im all about it. Im always reading about it and pushing its capabilities and seeing whats coming out next. We looked at the business and whats going on with the applications and the growth. The growth is through the roof.
“We found a niche, and were trying to take it over.”
Rock Software, Inc., builds social networking applications tailored to the individual, but designed to work through an iPhone exclusively. Anyone can submit an application for use through an iPhone, but it must meet Apples requirements and the company holds approval rights.
Jordan hopes to add more high-profile customers soon. His company has talked to Seattle Seahawks receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh – a former Bengal – about getting an app. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is interested in launching one once the NBA season starts.
“Its a unique starting point for possibly extending how I interact, not just with people interested in business, but with customers and others as well,” Cuban told The AP in a text message. “With any new technology, you have to do what you can to test it, and see what the law of unintended consequences reveals to you as an opportunity you never expected.”
The potential financial return comes from the public: Once an athlete launches an app, fans who have iPhones can buy it, with Apple, Rock Software and the athlete each getting a percentage. Fans pay $1 for Sanchezs app. Ochocincos will cost between $3 and $5 because it will offer extra features.
“This gives that athlete a great way to connect with fans that they never had before,” said Tim Bajarin, an analyst at Creative Strategies, Inc., which monitors the technology industry and does strategic planning. “Itll be fun to watch. If they get the model right, this could have a lot of potential. It could obviously bring about copycats as well.”
Jordan Palmer said athletes tend to have two main concerns about launching their own applications.
“First, what are my obligations?” Palmer said. “And second, how much money am I going to make? Theres very, very little obligation from the pro athlete side of it. They dont have to invest anything in it. And they can make a lot of money.”
Rock Software produces the apps and handles the approval process. The athletes provide the content – which will be the main challenge, in the view of one industry follower. Each athletes app will be different and could include any number of content features, such as links to Twitter or other interactive sites, personal biographies and statistics, photos or video that the athlete shoots.