"There's an App For That"

We’ve all seen the commercials for Apple that feature flashes of different applications that the iPhone has. They range from the popular games such as Angry Birds or Words with Friends, and include as simple things as a level, or bubble wrap to pop, all the way to sophisticated applications that change your words to texts or function as a navigation system. When I first got my iPhone I began playing basic games such as solitaire or puzzles however in the last few years billions of apps have been downloaded onto iPhones and iPads alike. Many people that I know have multiple pages on their phone’s in which they are filled with apps including games, sports stations, weather, and “what is in” sites such as whereisthecool.com or stumbleupon.com. My iPhone apps are a short list. With Facebook as my most used application then followed by Words with Friends (a Scrabble game that you can play with other iPhone users who also have this app), it is clear that I use my apps as another means to interact with people. Just recently I was introduced to an application called HeyTell. This is used much like texting however you are able to speak into your phone and record a message for a friend who is then able to hear and respond back.  There are also other apps such as Beluga in which you are able to create conversations with multiple friends in a “chat-like” room where everyone is able to read everyone else’s messages and view their pictures and videos they send. It seems to me that in many ways application for smart phones are furthering our means of communication with others. Some may view this as a good thing and some may see this as a negative as it is decreasing our face-to-face interaction.

 One of the main reasons in which I am interested in applications for smart phones is because I see them as a very crucial element in the field that I wish to enter into in the near future, marketing. Just this Christmas season I was becoming increasingly aware of the use of technology to help market and sell products. For example, I just realized this past holiday season that the number of online shoppers has increased drastically. While the “Black Friday” rushes to retail stores at 2 a.m. may have still been busy, a large band of customers have made the switch to become “online shoppers” and more commonly than not, they tend to shop on their cellular devices. Especially if you are a repeat customer and return to the same site multiple time to buy gifts, the checkout process is as simple as visiting the site, and often times checking only one box that says purchase because the company already has all your information. Many companies are working with over the phone companies such as PayPal, which allows users to easily pay for products just by swiping a chip placed on their phone over the PayPal stations, and even offer incentives for people to do so by giving discounts and other promotions.

I think it is very important to follow the trends that we see happening with the use of the smart phone in business and society today if we wish to be innovative for the business road tomorrow. Even as a consumer and a user of an iPhone, I see a great benefit in staying up-to-date on the latest applications, because they honestly do make things much easier and more convenient for free or only a small easy fee to the iTunes store in which you already have an existing account because you have to use that program with the phone. The application wave of technology is definitely a crucial aspect of business innovation to stay connected with.