What is Mobile app?

Mobile app

A mobile application (or mobile app) is a software application designed to run on smartphones, tablet computers and other mobile devices. They are available through application distribution platforms, which are typically operated by the owner of the mobile operating system, such as the Apple App Store, Google Play, Windows Phone Store and BlackBerry App World. Some apps are free, while others have a price. Usually, they are downloaded from the platform to a target device, such as an iPhone, BlackBerry, Android phone or Windows Phone, but sometimes they can be downloaded to less mobile computers, such as laptops or desktops.

Mobile apps were originally offered for general productivity and information retrieval, including email, calendar, contacts, and stock market and weather information. However, public demand and the availability of developer tools drove rapid expansion into other categories, such as mobile games, factory automation, GPS and location-based services, banking, order-tracking, and ticket purchases. The explosion in number and variety of apps made discovery a challenge, which in turn led to the creation of a wide range of review, recommendation, and curation sources, including blogs, magazines, and dedicated online app-discovery services.

Distribution as on 20-09-2012

Google Play
             -  application store for the Google Android operating system.With over 600,000 apps

BlackBerry App World
             -  Apps for the BlackBerry mobile devices . With over 99,500 apps
Nokia Store
             -  An app store for the Nokia phone.  With over 1,20,000 apps

Windows Phone Marketplace
              -  Windows Phone Marketplace is a service by Microsoft for its Windows Phone 7 platform. with over 1,00,000 apps
Apple App Store
                - The Apple App Store is a digital application distribution platform for iOS developed and maintained by Apple Inc. 7,25,700+ apps