So let’s say I wanted to sell some content consisting of text and pictures to be viewed on an iPhone. Is there an existing model that would let me do this?
I don’t want to be too explicit because I don’t want anyone else to do it before me. But imagine I wanted to sell something about the length of a Chick tract (but with better illustrations) for a few dollars. How would I do that?
You would have to
[ol]
[li]Register for an account at the iPhone dev center[/li][li]Install XCode and the iPhone SDK[/li][li]Write an application to display your content, and[/li][li]Upload it to the iPhone app store[/li][/ol]
Alternatively, you could find someone who already has a “miscellaneous crap viewer” application out there and who is willing to pay people for their crap. That seems highly unlikely, since every iPhone already comes equipped with a free miscellaneous crap viewer called Safari.
You forgot step 3.5 - pay $99
I don’t want to use Safari because I want the content to only be viewed on an iPhone and I want to charge for the content. If there is an “iTunes” for miscellaneous text/graphics crap I don’t want to re-invent it. It’s the DRM issues I don’t want to deal with.
If I do write an app though , I think I’ll call it miscellaneous crap viewer; it has a nice ring. 
No believe it or not it would probably go in the free section of itunes. Give away the razor and charge through the nose for the blades as it were.
For the op, if you have not already done so, download bloomberg news app. Thats how i want my text information to look like when using the iphone.
Declan
No - the $99 is the price the developer has to pay to list an App. Everything else (development system, ADC membership) is free.
Many of the best application and all the best podcasts are ‘free’. With massive competition from free content providers, you might want to rethink the pay-to-play model and see if you can make something from advertising.
Anyway, the reader market for the iphone is dominated by Stanza:
It’s not a bad little application. They have a section for booksellers and writers here: http://www.lexcycle.com/booksellers
If you are doing something graphic intensive, search for iVerse reader. I’m not sure how it works, but it sounds like you have to submit content to them for review. It’s not clear how or if the author is paid.