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In The Beginning…
Once upon a time in the not so very distant past (about thirty years ago), if we wanted to contact someone by telephone we had to hope they were at home, or else try again later. In the 1980’s mobile and car phones emerged onto the market, but at this time were still seen as an executive gadget that were used by ‘yuppies’ and not by ordinary people.
Move forward another ten years and about half of adults in the UK now have a basic mobile phone and they can also use it to send text messages to other mobile users. Some even have simple games to play on it, such as ‘snake’. A decade further and nearly everyone has a mobile, including the majority of teenaged children. People cannot remember what they used to do without them. Another decade takes us to the present day, and not only do we now rely on being able to call or text anyone at anytime from anywhere, but we use our smartphones to help with almost everything.
One Mobile For Everything…
Smartphones, and more specifically the apps we can download onto them, can do virtually anything we require them to these days. They have replaced alarm clocks and cameras, are rapidly becoming the first port of call for internet access, we play games on them to keep us occupied, they remind us when to pick up the dry cleaning and advise us on what to have for dinner. We use them for shopping, listening to music, watching films and television, searching for information and keeping in touch with friends both real and virtual. The advent of apps has meant that each and every person can now customise their smartphone on a daily basis if they so wish. There is no longer any rush to choose what features you think you will want and then be stuck with them for a year or more. Apps let everyone have the features they want whenever they want them.
App Usage Today…
Over one billion people on the planet today own a smartphone and that number is rising rapidly. Of those people, 69% regularly use downloaded apps. That’s more than 690,000,000 people who use apps on a daily basis! According to statistics from the first half of 2012, Apple iPhone users are the most likely to utilise apps, with the average number of app downloads per month being 48. Android users were next with 35, then Microsoft with 17 and RIM with 15. When almost anything you can possibly think of has its own app it’s easy to see why they are so popular. You can even get one which tells you when it’s safe to go for a wee during a movie without missing any of the good bits! Apps, it seems, are the future, and it’s looking bright.
