Call it the iPhone economy. Apple’s soon-to-open online App Store has triggered a scramble among software developers to write business plans aimed at making money off Apple’s iPhone, a mini-computer that doubles as a phone. “I’m seeing an excitement among mobile developers that I’ve never seen before,” said Sam Altman, chief executive and cofounder of Mountain View, Calif.-based Loopt, a location-based social networking service. “People who said they’d never start a mobile company because they didn’t want to rely on the carriers are now starting companies focused only on the iPhone.”
