Rise of the Planet of the Apps

Through this blog assignment, I intend to look at the way information and entertainment has been adapted to our increasingly mobile lifestyles. Believe it or not, while smartphones have been around for over a decade, only in the past five or so years has the smartphone phenomenon really taken off. Ever since the release of the original iPhone in 2007, the smartphone has become a staple of many consumers' lives and in many ways has overtaken the personal computer as a primary means of accessing information and entertainment. Additionally, the recent tablet craze has created yet another type of product geared towards a mobile lifestyle, offering users a platform larger and more capable than a smartphone but smaller and more portable than a laptop or desktop computer.

What does that mean for us? As smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices continue to skyrocket in popularity and market share, media providers have taken notice and have been adapting the information and entertainment that they provide to accommodate this trend. The app has become king, and through the app, media providers can distribute all kinds of content in a fast and efficient package. Want to read today's news over breakfast? Cancel your paper subscription, there's an app for that. Want to watch a YouTube video on the go? Forget the laptop, there's an app for that. Want to try your hand at photography? Leave the camera at home, there's an app for that. Want to play a video game on the bus home? You don't need an Xbox, there's an app for that.

Certainly, the app has become the drive-thru window of media consumption. Rather than setting aside time out of your busy schedule to stop and consume media, you can just access it on your mobile device whenever and wherever you want. Convenience is the name of the game, and with Moore's law dictating an exponential increase in the computing power of these mobile devices and revolutionary new features being researched and developed, perhaps we can expect our iThings and Android devices to replace other more traditional means of media consumption almost entirely within the next decade or two.