Fox Mobile is reviewing its iPhone application strategy, Fox Mobile CEO (formerly Jamba) Mauro Montanaro told us at MWC. The company joins a growing number of publishers that are increasingly unsure that the cost of developing an iPhone application can always be recouped. “It all depends on the application, of course,” says Montanaro, “and whether they are paid or free.” But he also notes that the “discoverability” of iPhone apps is becoming a bigger problem, and that some of the marketing tactics that Fox Mobile has used successfully on other handsets just don’t work on the iPhone.

“The question, as usual, is placement. Who determines [editorial placement]? Maybe someone out of Cupertino,” says Montanaro. With 15,000 apps now in the App Store and more flooding in, it’s a complaint that more people are airing as it gets increasingly tough for developers and publishers to claw themselves to the top of the list, where the serious sales start rolling in. Fox Mobile has experimented with a few applications, and has found that it’s only those apps that are heavily branded that have worked for them. In December, for example, Fox launched a “very successful” application timed with the release of its hit movie Marley and Me, a Tamagotchi-style application where users could adopt Marley and feed and play with him, which sold for $0.99.

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