Mobile communication has become so integrated into our lives that we can no longer imagine everyday life without a smartphone. Statistics show that we spend most of our free time on our smartphones using mobile apps. We use mobile applications to chat with friends, to take and edit pictures and videos, to navigate traffic, to read the news, and for fun and learning. We can conclude that mobile applications, in 2018, are a very important part of our lives.
Do you remember the first cell phones? The first ones had the ability to make calls and messages, and then later they got tools like calculators, calendars, alarms, to-do lists... People born in the eighties and early nineties will surely remember the Nokia 3310 and the Snake game. At the time, the game was the pinnacle of mobile gaming. Those were the beginnings of mobile application development.
At the beginning of the new millennium, there is a great demand for mobile applications. As mobile phones became more powerful with a better battery, which you didn't need to charge for 10 hours after a short call and a couple of messages, users demanded more applications with better functionalities. Before mobile phones, which allowed connecting to the Internet via a mobile connection, people used WAP (Wireless Application Protocol). Using WAP, users could download all the applications offered by the phone manufacturer. The demand for applications was so high that the WAP simply could not handle the load. People literally had to wait their turn to download the app.
A huge step towards the evolution of mobile applications took place with the announcement of the new iPhone. The digital keyboard, multi-screen display and finally a functional web browser have completely revolutionized the way people use mobile applications. Many experts believe that it was the beginning of a new era for the entire mobile industry.
In July 2008, Apple released 552 mobile apps that you could download to your iPhone. In just one week, iPhone users downloaded around ten million apps. In the autumn of the same year, Apple gained competition - Android Market. Google became a big competitor to Apple because, in addition to the Android Market, where you could download applications for free, it also offered services for buying music, e-books and movies. In 2012, Google Play was created, connecting Android Market, Google Music and Google eBookStore.
Today, mobile applications are beginning to influence the design and format of the device itself, according to one survey, every fifth person in the world owns a smartphone that contains mobile applications. Apps are all around you, in your house, at work, in your hands, maybe right now as you read this blog. You can expect more and more interesting, useful and multipurpose mobile applications on your smartphones. Mobile applications are in a process of constant evolution that is unlikely to stop in the near future.
