Tag Archives: iPhone

An App for That…Whatever

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Are today’s mobile phones too smart for their own good?

Perhaps so.

According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project survey results released today, only 25% of cell phone users who have installed “Apps” on their phones actually use them. Perhaps even more interestingly, a fair number of the nearly 2000 respondents were not even sure if their phones supported app installs or not.

The PIALP says 82 percent of U.S. adults own cellphones, but only 35 percent of those people have apps on their phone. Even fewer, 24 percent, actually use the apps they have, and 11 percent aren’t even sure whether their phones have apps in the first place. The study defines U.S. adults as anyone 18 years of age or older.

These findings are apparently the complete opposite of other recent opinions published that suggest, “The Web is Dead” or that “within five years global internet consumption on mobile devices will surpass the same activity on PCs”.  It may be that these predictions will play out over time.  However, the current trends might suggest we still have a bit of time left to wait and see.

PIALP_apps

The survey results includes findings from two distinct studies: a Pew Internet telephone survey of 2,252 U.S. adults age 18 and older, conducted by Princeton Survey Research International between April 29 and May 30, 2010; and Nielsen data from an analysis of 3,962 adults (age 18+) gathered in the December 2009 Apps Playbook.

Photo credit: @adedip via Flickr

305,862 Apps and Counting

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tranquil-iphone

Tranquil by Jason Kottke

Recently, Steve Rubel published an article entitled, “It’s the End of the Web as We Know It” describing the current trend in personal computing toward smaller and more focussed single purpose applications, driven by the growth of mobile platforms.

According to Morgan Stanley, within five years global internet consumption on mobile devices will surpass the same activity on PCs. This sounds like good news. It’s natural to think that browsers on the third screen (phones) and the fourth screen (tablets) will simply replace time spent in front of the same on a PC. That’s not the case.

Mobile devices, by their nature, force users to become more mission-oriented. As more internet consumption shifts to gadgets, it’s increasingly becoming an app world and we just live in it. Innovation, fun, simplicity and single-purpose utility will rule while grandiose design and complexity will fall by the wayside.

Mobile phones (smart phones in particular), iPods, and tablets are changing the way many people interact with, consume, and in some cases even produce digital content.  The tools for such, aka “Apps” have seen tremendous growth accordingly.

The folks at Online MBA have created an excellent Infographic illustrating this growth.  In addition to the visual data there are also a good number of reference links included as well for further exploration.

Online MBA
Via: MBA Online

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/myguitarzz/161457656/

Wolfram|Alpha Mobile News

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There have been a number of significant changes at Wolfram|Alpha recently with some of the biggest developments aimed at mobile applications of their “knowledge engine” platform.  A new mobile site has been established to increase accessibility by a wider user group, and the price of the Wolfram|Alpha iPhone App has been drastically reduced.  Additionally, a version specific to the iPad has also been released.

As we approach the anniversary of the launch of Wolfram|Alpha, we’ll be moving into Wolfram|Alpha’s next phase, centered on growth—increasing the exposure and use of Wolfram|Alpha both by individuals seeking knowledge and by developers building computational knowledge into their applications in interesting ways. We want Wolfram|Alpha to become ubiquitous.

The first step in this process is to improve Wolfram|Alpha’s accessibility on smartphones and other mobile devices that are increasingly an integral part of one’s online experience. Today we’re launching the mobile Wolfram|Alpha website, http://m.wolframalpha.com. The new mobile website is a big step forward from the landing page it replaces, having been engineered from the ground up for the new generation of touch-screen smartphones while enabling access to Wolfram|Alpha from earlier handheld devices that have difficulty with the main website.

In addition to the mobile website, we’ve changed the price of the Wolfram|Alpha App for the iPhone and iPod touch to $1.99, down from $49.99.

Wolfram|Alpha can be a bit challenging to fully comprehend and determine an appropriate use for.  However, as an educational application it provides functionality that is unmatched by really anything else in existence.  Exploration and discovery are certainly encouraged.  This handy “One-page summary” provides some useful tips on the tools available.  Additionally, there are numerous examples posted on the site to help visualize potential applications.

Give it a try.

Meanwhile, congratulations to the team at Wolfram|Alpha on their SXSW2010 Web Interactive Awards this year.  They received two awards: one for Technical Achievement and another for Best in Show.

w00t!