It all depends. If you want to get your programs on carrier decks you are either going to have to learn J2ME (Java) or Brew. Java powered phones are by far the most popular, including all Nokias, S-E, and RIM Blackberry models.
However, I think the iPhone platform is the future. You have a distribution model that bypasses the carrier decks with iTunes. Which is huge because it's a pain in the ass to get on carrier decks, seeing how most NA phones are locked from installing software unless you download it directly from the carrier's portal. Then you have the fact that Apple users tend to open their wallets more for software.
Don't count on it. This is a country where Bell and Telus just announced that they will now be charging for incoming text. An additional 15 cents for incoming text, even if it was unsolicited.
Ok now let's step back from the initial outrage and think about it. This is supposedly two independent carriers making a joint announcement of a price increase. Now, I have no idea if I just stepped into Wonderland, but in my world that is called price fixing. Where two entities collude to fleece customers even more. Sort of the same idea where local gas stations collude to fix gas prices.
Now that's what I call balls, the monopolistic carriers don't even care about getting caught.
I thought about this idea for awhile after reading Link, but it would be very to theorize unless I had access to data for a huge social network.
And it's not just the most influential, but you can further break it down to by finding who are the early adopters, connectors, and evangelist of the group. This I think would be the holy grail for any advertiser.
We realize that Facebook is a dominant competitor in this market space and a lot of people use it for creating events, but there are still some people we've talked to who aren't entirely happy with it, as well as some market segments out there that aren't avid Facebook users.
How big is the addressable market? What you just described sounds pretty small.
"...still some people we've talked to who aren't entirely happy with it" This sounds like people that are slightly annoyed, and not really displeased enough to switch over to something else.
For my last party invite, I tried using facebook but a lot of people balked at it. Pretty sure the reason was that it forces you to think that you need to sign up/log in and people just want to have an easy access to event time/address, and a yes/no button to rsvp.
I just created a test on anyvite and it was super easy and common-sense. Definitely preferrable to facebook in my opinion. Two comments though:
1. RSVP dropdown is smallish/hard to notice.
2. Background images stretch in an ugly way, at least on my work IE 1024 x 768.
However, I think the iPhone platform is the future. You have a distribution model that bypasses the carrier decks with iTunes. Which is huge because it's a pain in the ass to get on carrier decks, seeing how most NA phones are locked from installing software unless you download it directly from the carrier's portal. Then you have the fact that Apple users tend to open their wallets more for software.