CEO Jeff Smith at Vator Splash on why the product and the end users are the marketing While social networks have built a stage for everyone to become a writer, or pundit, Smule - the maker of popular iPhone apps Ocarina, Leaf Trombone and I Am T-Pain - has created a stage to give everyone their 15 minutes of "musical" fame. With more than three million people around the globe - with and without musical talent - having downloaded one of Smule’s applications on the iPhone, the question is: How is Smule getting its iPhone apps to consistently be one of the highest-grossing on the very crowded iPhone app store?Is it the product or the marketing? If there is one overriding lesson about viral marketing, it is that the product is itself the marketing. Without a great product, ...   [ Read more ]