www.nutsvolts.com/index.php?/magazine/article/december2010_OpenCommunication
■ FIGURE 3. Nokia’s new N8 smartphone. While not yet
a hot item in the US, it is a worldwide hit.
APPS
Some things that have really made the smartphone a
hot item are the applications programs known as apps. These
small but useful programs can be downloaded free or for
a small fee, and provide a huge range of useful functions.
Most of the apps are games but there are tons of others
for news and weather, navigation, social networking,
entertainment, finance,
e-reading, and others. Apple
dominates the apps area with
over 200,000 apps but Google’s
Android OS has about 80,000
or so and is well on its way to
more. Even Amazon is trying
to get in on the coming
Android apps growth spurt.
RIM BlackBerry has 9,000+
apps and all the other phone
manufacturers are working on
their own apps programs like Nokia’s Ovi program which
claims 12,000 or more. There are few Microsoft apps but
with the new OS, that will probably change.
TABLETS — THE ULTIMATE
MOBILE DEVICE
The recently introduced Apple iPad (Figure 5) is a huge
success. Many millions have been sold and it is still a hot gift
70
December 2010
