Apps, Apps Everywhere
I’ve long been proud of my early adopter tendencies, but in the smartphone world, I confess to arriving a bit late to the party. I had restrained myself as long as I could, but late last summer, I finally surrendered and bought an iPhone®. Four months and 100+ apps later, I would say that I’m happy with my purchase. Well, okay; I’m addicted. And since we’ve launched our In-Room Mobile Bidding platform, the BiddingForGood for iPhone App, and an HTML5 mobile site, I’m now paying a huge amount of attention to all things mobile.
Perhaps it’s because of my growing fascination with this topic, but it seems to me that mobile apps are rapidly infiltrating many aspects of our lives.
During my family’s Thanksgiving gathering, for example, several of us - adults and children alike – spent a good deal of time with iPhones in hand, introducing one another to our latest silly app discoveries. Please note: the iPhones were turned off before dinner, for Heaven’s sake! We’re not that far gone!
That evening, my nieces showed me two <sarcasm>very useful</sarcasm> apps, one for transforming yourself, your pet, or a loved one into a fabulous drag queen, and one that adds the illusion of several hundred pounds to a picture of your face. The next day, I read an article in the New York Times about the New York Philharmonic’s Jeffrey Kahane conducting a Mozart symphony using an iPad instead of a musical score. Kahane describes his use of the device for conducting and performing as “life-changing.”
From an augmented reality app that makes Black history come alive in Boston to those that can help those with brain injuries, there really are apps for everything, from the transformative to the seemingly pointless. Even Sesame Street has observed the “There’s An App for That” phenomenon, putting their own unique spin on it for the toddler set (do toddlers have iPhones, too!?)
What are some of your favorite apps? Whether silly or serious, please share with us in the comments!
PS - we won’t judge you if you tell us that Angry Birds changed your life.