Recently my son “borrowed” my phone and was appalled at the amount of apps I have. I have approximately twenty apps which is nowhere near the amount most people out there have. My apps are items that are useful to me and are usually something I can use everyday or when I’m in a tight spot. The bubble level app came in really handy when I was attempting to mount our television. It also helped when I was hanging mirrors and paintings. My tape measure app also came in pretty handy when we moved and most of my tools were missing. And he really got on me when he saw Word With Friends. He said “nobody plays Words With Friends” anymore. So I’m a little behind with my apps, but I like what I like and Words With Friends is one of those I can’t seem to do without.
Obviously, everyone gets applications for their devices for different reasons. But, how many apps are there? How many are actually in use? Near the end of 2011, Android hit nearly 500,000 submitted apps while Apple has well over 500,000. Now, just because there are numerous apps doesn’t mean they are all heavily downloaded, but numbers don’t lie. And what better way to drum up curiosity than by saying you have over 500,000 apps? One company has only seventy apps and already has built up a lot of publicity. Liferay, Inc., a major player in the open source and portal arena, has opened a new app store called Liferay Marketplace. Although you will have to be a current user of their portal to utilize their applications, this is just a demonstration of how applications are being used by many major companies to provide business services to their customers. Understandably, I do need to update my apps so that I can stay abreast of the new trends, devices, etc. out there. But, I still enjoy my older apps and don’t plan on getting rid of them. What are some of your favorite apps you can’t live without?
