Mobile Apps
Mobile apps are the latest craze. Anyone with an internet enabled smartphone is looking for an app to make life more convenient and more interesting. Mobile apps or applications are software designed to run on smartphones and perform simple functions. They were popularized by Apple when they created their online Apple store to sell games, music, video etc. From there, software developers started creating all manner of mobile apps.
Software developers design these apps to be as simple and as easy to use as possible. This is because smartphones generally have low processing power, small screens and fewer control options. This means that mobile apps have to be made in such a way that a user easily runs them, gets the required information in as little time as possible and closes them with minimal hustle. This should be the case in all platforms.
Most smartphone users use mobile apps even without realizing it. For instance, an iPhone user will use the Safari browser to surf the internet. Also, there are a few apps that come pre-installed in a new iPhone e.g. a clock app, a calendar app, a compass, a YouTube app, a calculator etc. Apart from these normal applications, software developers have developed apps for virtually any aspect of life and work. Although the first mobile apps were for the apple OS, developers have expanded into all mobile operating systems as demand increases day by day.
The most popular mobile apps are those from high traffic websites like social media sites and tend to be compatible with all mobile phones and devices e.g. android, windows mobile, Apple OS, blackberries etc. This is because the site’s owners want to provide superior customer service to everyone, no matter what device they are using. For instance, Facebook has an app that users can download and enjoy most of the features found on the main site. The experience is a little on the simplistic side but users usually don’t mind the tradeoff. They will be able to update their profile, chat with their friends, read a few updates etc. People that like to read can easily get applications that allow for that e.g. iBooks from Apple, a reading app from Amazon that allows people to download books from the store and read them on the smartphone, a Wikipedia app that allows people to read up on any topic on the main site etc.
There are also a wide variety of mobile apps that people use for entertainment purposes e.g. games like chess, first person shooters etc. News junkies can use mobile apps from major news vendors like CNN, BBC, CNBC, Reuters, and NBC etc. There are many apps that can be used by artists, designers, programmers to help in their work e.g. drawing apps, CAD apps, music creation apps etc.
One of the main reasons why mobile apps are so popular is because the vast majority of them are very affordable i.e. in the range of $1 to $5. This is a win-win situation for both developer and user; the developer makes a lot of money from sales and the user gets a certain need satisfied.
