What is Mobile
To better understand what kind of applications are suitable for a mobile device, we might need to consider the mindset of a typical user when he or she is more prone to use a mobile app. Typically, he or she needs to perform a really simple task, or wants to know what is around, or just kill some time playing or entertaining him or herself.
Simple Task
It is really tempting to deploy a whole set of functionality into a mobile application, after all, smartphones are just tiny little computers, power enough to compete with what just a few years ago was the pride of our desktops. But, alas, temptation does not always lead us to a good place.
The power might be there, but the form factor is not the best to accomplish really complex task. Mobile devices are more a companion than a substitute to a desktop or laptop. Tolstoy wouldn’t be happy writing War and Peace with the virtual keyboard of an iPhone (ok, perhaps the iPhone would be the least of the worries of Tolstoy, but you get the point).
On the other hand, a mobile device really excels for simple tasks, specially when the user is not in the context of a more traditional system. For example, take Things or my personal favourite, iBank. Certainly, the Macintosh version is more suitable to create a full fledged report or budget (or to better organize a complex project into a set of task in a todo list), but the iPhone version are excellent to record in the store door (before forget it) or check an errand todo.
The best mobiles apps offers quick access to ideas and information, with a slimmer feature set than its desktop counterparts, but really enhancing the way this small feature set is implemented.
Mobiles apps are not tuned for long sessions, but for short but frequent hits. To put in other words, a good mobile app is not suited to write a long book, but to easily capture little snippets of texts and ideas (to feed the great book).
Where I Am?
Since the introduction of GPS receivers, mobile devices are excellent portals to what’s nearby.
There are tons of location based applications trying to serve little slices of the universe around us. Want to know where to find a rest-room? There’s an app for that, and not to mention the zillion apps to find a restaurant, a pot joint dealer or just about anything in the neighborhood.
For any app is important to think about the differentiator, what’s the thing that the app do best, and better than the rest. Since the location based is a specially crowded niche, i would emphasize the need to think carefully how to do something beyond what the other are doing.
Let’s Play
Yeah, it is true, neither you, nor me, are the kind of riffraff playing with silly games. We are for more serious stuff. Really? come on, no one, is going to believe such thing. Mobile devices are excellent for casual games and entertainment. Even a quick view at the App Store numbers will tell us that these are the sections where the action is happening. For a buck, you can buy zillions of apps that will lift you above the fatal boredom of a bank queue.
