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By
Jesse Cryderman
Despite economic downturns, natural disasters and pervasive political punditry, those with a modicum of digital savvy have been able to use technology to make significant improvements to their personal, family and business lives. Tasks that once required a phonebook, a licensed detective and a private satellite are now within the reach of most working people in most developed (and many developing) countries. Whether locating a lost child or a lost phone, planning a wedding, or managing a salesforce, to quote one of the first iPhone ads, "there's an app for that." And apps are no longer just fancy music players or the first three letters of Apple.
Capitalizing on the hardware specs
and new features in today's smartest
phones, app developers are releasing
new software that dramatically
enriches the mobile experience in ways
that were impossible five years ago.
Today there are so many apps that
navigating the App Store or Android
Market is a chore in itself. And since
mobile no longer just means cell
phones, app developers are stretching
out into hotrodded platforms like
tablets, which have hardware specs
and screen sizes that allow for much
more functionality.
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Location-based apps are redefining what is possible—and expected—from handheld applications. |
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promise to offer up relevant incentives
to stores, restaurants and
entertainment in your vicinity. Games
have taken advantage of GPS too, like
Parallel Kingdom, "a mobile location-
based massively multiplayer game that
uses your GPS location to place you in
a virtual world on top of the real world."
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Location, Location, Location
GPS chips are in most phones now, and they enable all kinds of amazing location-based apps that go beyond simple navigation and mapping. MyGeoReader takes navigation several steps further by turning a handset into a virtual tour guide. Location-based alarm clocks, like Bus Snooze GPS Alarm by Finko, allow a traveler to really relax without worrying about missing a stop. And GPS-driven planner apps like iQulabs remind@ alert the user to important location-based tasks: "don't forget to pick up flowers for your girlfriend when you approach her place."
Location-based realtime couponing is
still in its infancy, but apps like Poynt
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Healthcare
"During health emergencies, rapid realtime response can mean the difference between life and death." Such dire warnings are the marketing meat for apps like BoBo alert, which offers fast and convenient access to the most important medical information relevant to the safety of a child, and Nimble EMR (iPad), a software-as-a-service application that helps doctors manage their workflow. But cooler apps are just around the corner. At 4GWorld 2010, Sprint's Bob Azzi displayed video of a brainscan-sharing app that allowed a specialist to manipulate and comment on a patient's 3D brain scan while on vacation. In the U.S., all health records are to be digitized within four years, so there will be considerable development in this app arena in the coming years.
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