Yesterday was interesting.

iOS 9 was released, and content blockers emerged from beta. A few thoughts:

As is usually the case, approval by the App Store is unpredictable. First in does not necessarily translate to first out. In the list of content blockers we posted yesterday (still updating the list, by the way, so ping me if I’ve missed any), almost half of them are still not live on the App Store.

As a nod to fairness, maybe put a note on your calendar to check the content blockers next week when, hopefully, they’ll all be in place. In the meantime, read this post from one of the “first in and not yet out” developers.

Did you know that this content blocker is now the #1 paid app on the App Store? Sign o’ the times.

As David Smith said in this tweet:

The way the iOS Ad Blocker market shakes out is going to be an interesting study for the modern App Store. New, in-demand, relatively easy.

Perfectly put. In their most basic form, content blockers are relatively easy to build. There are tutorials out there that will walk you through the process of pulling one together. In fact, here’s an open source blocker you can dig into.

The challenge comes with adding form and function. Will your app simply offer installation instructions or will it offer more, like the ability to edit a white list of sites? Will you provide useful share extensions, a la Peace? How about some new feature that no one has yet implemented?

The fact that content blockers are brand spanking new, yet immediately in great demand (quite possibly, a product that every single iOS user will want) means an incredible opportunity for developers.

This is pretty rare. A brand new frontier has just opened up. Come and get it!