What is an App?

In its simplest definition, an “App” is a software application designed for a specific task.  The marketing department at Apple did a superb job making software sound so cool and hip, and people with Windows computers so out of touch, by using the word “App”, that now it is a mainstream word, like Google, Kleenex, and Band-Aids.   

Businesses have developed “apps” for as long as there were computers.  Examples include enterprise software, accounting software,  software, graphics software and media players to name just a few.  Peoplesoft and Outlook are “apps” that are now used by thousands of companies worldwide to do tasks.  When computers were first introduced to business, an IT department and team of programmers would work to develop software used exclusively by their company for productivity and a competitive advantage.  The Apollo Reservation system was an early entry for United airlines and the VAX software was an early tool used by Digital Corporation.  As the desktop PC emerged as a common business platform, and operating systems software became more common across companies, software development moved to independent 3^rd party providers creating application software suites for common tasks such a word processing, accounting, and e-mail.  Thus was born Microsoft Office,  WordPerfect, WordStar, Lotus 1-2-3, Quattro, Powerpoint, etc.  The operating system software and the application software had become more removed from each other.

Mobile application software, also known as an application or "app", is computer software that is still designed to help the user to perform specific tasks.  I like to describe today’s mobile apps as bringing your company website to the end user and allowing them to perform the five most common tasks using the computer in their pocket, the smart phone.  Many application programs deal principally with documents.  Apps may be bundled with the computer and its system software, or may be published separately.  Application software does not interact with the computer operating system or hardware components.

As the computer has gotten smaller and mobile computer/phones have extended the range or replaced the desktop PC, mobile apps have filled the space of application software.   Mobile apps, are software applications, usually designed to run on smart phones and tablet computers. Mobile apps were originally intended for productivity such as e-mail, calendar and contact databases.  Thus was born the Palm Pilot, the HP Journada, and the other digital organizers.  Eventually the digital organizer and the telephone apps were merged into one device, which we now call the smart phone.  As the smart phone moved from the business environment (Blackberry) to the consumer market (Apple iPhone), public demand and the opportunity for software developers to make money caused rapid expansion into other areas such as mobile games, factory automation, GPS and location-based services, banking, order-tracking, and ticket purchases.

Mobile Apps are available through application distribution platforms, which are typically operated by the owner of the mobile operating system, such as the Apple App Store with iOS software, Google Play with Android software, Windows Phone Marketplace and BlackBerry App World.