How the iPhone Changed Our Lives (or the day the App was born)

The iPhone has been celebrated for many things: great design, fun and easy to use, sharp media and a host of capabilities you never really thought you needed in a phone. But, perhaps the greatest impact Apple’s sleek device has had, and will continue to have on our lives is that it gave rise to ‘the App’. Sure, all of us that have been thinking, working, and living online since way back when know what an app is…kind of. It used to be something you used at work or at home to get something accomplished. There wasn’t any fun around it, or value outside of the exact thing you needed to do. MS Office, email, browsers, accounting programs…plus, no one ever called them apps; they are applications thank youvery much. But then came the iPhone and my sister who once took pride in not being ‘a computer nerd’ is smiling and telling everyone who will listen about the cool new ‘app’ she just downloaded. Wow.

The iPhone is great but you can get the same thing from other phones nowadays. What you can’t get on anything else is an App that lets you find the perfect place to eat, another App to get a taxi or find the closest subway stop,  and after you’re finished your amazing meal, grab the App that lets you calculate the tip between friends when you’re done. Still early? Don’t worry, find a movie to go see at the closest movie theater, play a game, or call someone long distance for free. Ya, there’s an App for that.

And that’s the genious of it. The iPhone is cool but Apps are our trusty little friends that make life more enjoyable. It’s the reason iPhone commercials don’t really talk about the phone at all but instead introduce you to more of these little digital buddies. It’s the reason that every mobile carrier and provider wants to offer an App Store. It’s the reason Google hasn’t pushed insane marketing dollars behind it’s phone. There aren’t enough Android apps yet to make your life so much better (but they’re coming!).

So, thank you Apple for giving life to the App. There’s no stopping how innovative the army of developers working on your behalf (another genious move, executed a lot better than Facebook) to make the iPhone our best friend can be, and thanks for spurring your competition to do the same.

Ideas and innovation spur more ideas and innovation. Now that the world is ready, we can get cracking on making these shiny new Apps go wherever we go. After all, my sister just asked me if she can shop for handbags on the Blackberry. Sure, why not?