Taking A Look At Mobile Applications Growth

It would seem that there has been a literal explosion in apps for mobile devices over the past few years

. Spearheading this assault on the minds and pocketbooks of Smartphone users are myriad apps for managing most aspects of one's personal life. Personal apps run the gamut from those enabling the purchase of movie tickets to social networking to GPS navigation or managing your multimedia.

Whilst this explosion has undoubtedly occurred on the personal side of mobile device interaction, it would seem a rather more sedate pace has taken place on the business side of things. While many providers have released mobile apps for such things as Sales CRM or even GPS mapping for the dispatch of technicians, these apps do not seem to have become as prevalent in the business world.

The Information Economy has seen the advent of the dissolution of the difference between the private and the business realms. The ability to do pretty much anything pretty much anywhere has seen a convergence of what people consider "work" and what they consider "personal." Business apps on Smartphone devices may only further accelerate this convergence. Despite potential social ramifications, one might instead think in terms of the huge gains in productivity this enables.

The User Interface, or UI, for these business applications would seem to still be largely art as opposed to science. Which is to say, that a formulaic or 'industry standard' approach to the mobile UI does not seem to yet be in place. One might think that simply borrowing the means of interaction with mobile business apps from their private cousins would be the most logical route. Certainly, so long as the adage "form follows function" is adhered to, then this would be effective. However, apps intended for personal use may often employ a great deal of "gee whiz" that simply would not be appropriate to the business place. Additionally, does one attempt to scale down the UI of a full-blown application typically ran on a workstation so that it "fits" on a three-inch screen or should perhaps certain elements serve as inspiration? Which further begs the question, who should influence whom? Perhaps, since the UI of the business mobile app is still open to certain amounts of creative license, the business mobile app might come to influence the UI of their desktop cousins.

Lastly, does the advent of the mobile app serve as a harbinger of what is to come in the desktop world? Or is it an instance of "everything old is new again"? In the early days of the Information Revolution, all applications were relatively simple affairs that essentially performed one or more fairly basic functions. They were specialized. While certainly today's apps easily exceed the capabilities and polish of those early applications, is it possible that this could be the future of desktop applications as well? Will we "mouseclick" on desktop icons, perform whatever simple task it is we intend to perform, save and exit? Will the desktop grow to imitate the mobile device? Or will the capabilities and complexity of these applications continue to grow along with the capabilities and complexity of the devices, on which, they run?

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? And when did the chicken start emulating the egg and vice versa?

by: Christine Harrell

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