The soaring popularity of smart phones has created a new type of entrepreneur – the “app developer”.
And now you can confess your sins via an apps. There is no end.
The industry has grown up around the iPhone. More than 450,000 different iPhone applications have appeared since Apple opened its Apps Store on iTunes to outside developers in July 2008.
Although it is the dominant player, there are many more to choose from including those from BlackBerry, Microsoft, Google, Nokia, and Samsung.
Applications rarely cost more than a few pounds or the equivalent in other currencies to download. Many are free.
But already the app market is worth nearly two and a half billion dollars (£1.65bn) a year, according to data from AdMob, an advertising company.
Other smart phone brands are striving to erode Apple’s early lead by developing their own platforms for apps.
‘Apps Goldrush’
The popularity of apps has created a gold rush mentality among a new breed of independent software developers. Some have even become millionaires.
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IT’S TIME TO GET YOUR OWN APPS FOR YOUR BUSINESS |
‘Powerful idea’
The success of Pocket God and other pioneering novelty apps has inspired large numbers of small scale entrepreneurs to have a go at developing software for smart phones.
I-send will build your apps to work across a variety of smartphone operating systems including Apple iPhone, Google Android, RIM BlackBerry, and Windows Mobile devices
PRICES STARTING FROM £99
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Nobody knows how many app developers there are, but the figure could run into thousands.
However, with so much competition around it has got a lot harder to create a top seller.
“You definitely have to do a lot more work today – doing PR and talking to people,” explains Diane Shawe Project Director of I-send proximity.
The essential point about current apps is that they are mostly intended to entertain and they have not involved a lot of work to develop. But we are seeing a rise of businesses using them to drive consumers to specific areas of there website.
There’s enormous innovation and a constant stream of new creative applications are coming online.
So forget about current applications, what matters are the creative things you can do to help your business get into the apps market and not being left behind.
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 It’s a lot like the internet bust that happened a few years ago  Dave Castelnuovo
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Mr Yoffie draws a parallel with the early days of personal computers.
“If you think about the old spread sheets before Lotus 123 and Excel, they weren’t terribly functional,” he says, referring to two landmark programs in desktop computing.
“But ultimately we figured out how to take the basic ideas that were developed in the very early days and make them better, more effective and very powerful,” he adds.
‘Crazy ideas’
Apps for smart phones will go through a variety of evolution.
In the longer term, Diane thinks smart phones will have the capability to act like portable subtitling machines, translating foreign languages for those visiting foreign countries, payment cards and heart monitors.
Other firms are now offering apps for mobile phones
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But not everyone believes the centre of gravity in computing will shift to smart phones, I believe that the smartpad will also play a pivotal part in the restructuring of advertising and how it is viewed by consumers.
On the one hand it is growing fast and there is the potential for really powerful apps that could change of the nature of computing.
The real apps war begins as we see microsoft and nokia join forces to level out the playing field against the iphone and ipad.
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