- published: 23 Jan 2013
- views: 1259142
A mobile app (short for mobile application), is a software application designed to run on smartphones, tablet computers and other mobile devices. They are available through application distribution platforms, which are typically operated by the owner of the mobile operating system, such as the Apple App Store, Google Play, Windows Phone Marketplace and BlackBerry App World. Some apps are free, and others have a price. Usually they are downloaded from the platform to a target device such as an iPhone, BlackBerry, Android phone or Windows Phone 7, but sometimes they can be downloaded to less mobile computers such as laptops or desktops. For apps with a price, generally a percentage, 20-30%, goes to the distribution provider (such as iTunes), and the rest goes to the producer of the app.
The term "app" has become popular, and in 2010 was listed as "Word of the Year" by the American Dialect Society.
Mobile apps were originally intended for productivity: email, calendar and contact databases, but public demand caused rapid expansion into other areas such as mobile games, factory automation, GPS and location-based services, banking, order-tracking, and ticket purchases. This in turn created a large subculture of different online magazines to review these new mobile applications. This was due to the large amount of apps in the apps store which made internal navigation more difficult.