Mobile Apps Flood the Market: Will Hackers Notice?

Mobile phones are increasingly keeping computers switched off. Train schedules, Facebook, music downloads — all of these tasks will soon be handled primarily via mobile phones.

The key element here is apps — short for applications, and referring specifically to applications for smartphones. Apple was the first to make a major move with its App Store for iPhone and iPod touch, now popular around the world. Other providers are now offering software as well, including Nokia, BlackBerry-maker RIM, and the Android consortium. Tens of thousands of apps stand ready, ranging from virtual whoopee cushions to highly refined video games.

Apple remains at the front of the pack: the company recently announced that the three billionth app was downloaded from the App Store. The users responsible for that staggering figure now have more than 100,000 of the little programs from which to choose. Among the most popular are PocketGuitar, which turns the cell phone into a kind of virtual guitar, and Shazam, which can deliver the title of a song heard through the phone’s microphone.

While many of these applications are of questionable practical value, the App Store also contains a great number of helpful products, says Markus Weidner, a cell phone expert at German telecommunications portal teltarif.de. “I’ve still not found a multi-messaging program for my Palm Pre,” he says. The iPhone is perhaps the only phone that can really be made into a digital Swiss Army Knife through apps.

There are also apps for Google’s Android operating system: 18,000 in the Android Market at last count. The RepliGo Reader, for example, can display PDF files, and Photovault can encrypt image files. BlackBerry-maker RIM also provides a platform for mobile applications. “There are currently more than 4,500 apps in the BlackBerry App World,” says spokesman Rainer Puster.

Regardless of platform, the solutions all allow for…

source : www.newsfactor.com

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