It’s what makes your phone smart

Mobile apps are what we now use to customize our phones to meet specific needs. Many come pre-installed while others can be downloaded. Apps is short for application, or, more specifically, mobile application software. Because your mobile phone is also a computer, mobile apps are software developed to perform singular or multiple related specific tasks for handheld devices like phones, tablets and PDAs.

Like a computer, phones also have Operating Systems, OS for short, that include programs and data that control computer hardware resources and facilitates application software. The most common mobile operating systems are Android, iOS (Apple), BlackBerry OS (RIM) and Symbian (Nokia).

The applications are sometimes preloaded or users can download them from distribution platforms, e.g. BlackBerry users can check ‘App World’ for needed applications.

Mobile apps can be very useful and entertaining, and smartphone users often have tons of apps to choose from, including office suite software, graphics software, media players and games. Professional users will appreciate the Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF apps. Other users will value apps such as Google Maps, Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare.

Mobile apps often use the phone’s capabilities like the camera, GPS and 3D graphics to deliver advertising and promotional messages.

Companies have also realized the usefulness of mobile apps and have invested in branded apps of their own, e.g. ifood Assistant by Kraft, the Audi A4 driving challenge, the Insurance Company of the West Indies Limited (ICWI) and LIME’s Accident Alert mobile phone app that was launched in May 2011.

Mobile applications are part of the evolving digital age and are certainly an improvement in our lives. Market analysts predict that 2012 will see the expansion of mobile apps for money transfer, location-based services,  mobile search, mobile browsing, mobile health monitoring, mobile payments and mobile music, among others.