A Brief History of Mobile Apps

In today’s world, mobile communication is so integrated into our lives that we couldn’t imagine a day without our cell phones. They are by our side from the moment our alarm wakes us up in the morning to the time we scroll through our e-mail at night. The history of mobile applications only spans a couple decades, but it’s growth is significant.

The beginning of a new millennium saw a rapid growth in mobile invention. From the rudimentary Blackberry to the innovative iPhone, mobile software became dramatically better in six years. The iOS software added competition to the market. Two years later, thousands of applications were added to the Android and iPhone mobile markets. The incredible growth of mobile over the last fifteen years begs the question, where will mobile be in the next fifteen?

User Complaints

We know mobile apps make our lives easier, but what about the features that annoy the heck out of us? This word cloud reveals text from articles about the most common user complaints about mobile apps. We can assume that sound features on apps get the most critisism. "Childish" and "immature" apps like iFart produce sounds we really rather not hear. Irrelevant push notifications also get critisism. The sound of the notification is interuptive and do we really need to know every detail of our Facebook friends' lives?

"Display" pops up as a common word for app complaints. Users are discouraged by mobile apps that are designed poorly and have a cluttered display. Pop-up full screen advertisements kill the efficency of an app. We don't want to thumb out of ads everytime we reach a new page.