Taking a peek at the latest mobile app
ideas in the tech world can be energizing -- the ideas that make you wish you had thought of that. It can be an effective
pep talk.
Why?
Because we live in exciting times. In
2009, when Stanford University released online a free course on mobile app
development, they saw one million downloads in seven weeks,
according to their press release.
If the demand to create mobile apps was so high six years ago,
it's no wonder that the tech world is now seeing jaw-dropping apps coming out
in a relentless stream -- apps like the four below, hand-selected for your
inspiration (and, yes, these are fun and lighthearted, but their brilliance
will make you green with jealousy):
1. A Gaming App That Teaches Kids to Code
Codarica, a blossoming start-up, has
found a way to teach kids to code -- according to their website:
"This iPad App allows children to build their first website
with real HTML & CSS. Joining a magical journey through the world wide web,
kids can test & hone their coding skills! Publish it when they are
done!"
Their idea was so good that Disney's new (and widely admired)
Startup-Accelerator Program selected Codarica for the 2014 accelerator program.
If we thought we live in exciting times, just wait until the
next generation of coders grows up.
2. An App That Fixes...Potholes?
Although not the newest kid on the
block, an app called Citizens Connect is still the leader in the world of civil
government -- even six years after its launch. According to this article, the
app has greatly improved that rough, unpaved intersection between citizens and
city government:
Pioneering civic technologies is Boston, which has been touted
as the first city to use a mobile app — Citizens Connect — to plug into its
community. Launched in 2009, the app is designed similar to the city’s 311
hotline: Residents can report problems like potholes or graffiti by snapping a
photo, tagging the location, and sending a report through the app. Users
receive a tracking number and can monitor when the city fixes the issue.
Talk about government transparency: getting personal messages from
the government alerting you to their progress in fixing a problem is, well, a
concerned citizen's dream. If only someone could make an app to fix the
potholes in Washington.
3. An App That Digitizes Household Chores (So Kids Want to
Do Chores)
Chore Monster had a very simple
idea: overlay the behavioral economics of video games -- the things that
motivate players, like earning experience points, leveling up, and unlocking
new game play features -- into the physical world -- namely, the kid's house.
10 years ago, when apps or touch-screen iPhones didn't exist, such
a thing couldn't have been created -- at least not in the amazingly fun, easy
way that Chore Monster did it. Their ChoreMonster app, which is used and synced
between kid and parent, keeps track of their "experience points" that
they gain as they do chores. And when they reach higher gaming levels -- set by
the parents -- they "unlock" new features and prizes (i.e. the parent
takes them out to ice cream, buys them something, let's them go to some fun
event).
Frankly, we all wish we had that app when we were kids.
4. An App That Even Truckers Would Love
Our highly skilled team of engineers at
Contensive are not shy to throw our hat into this ring. We've made some superb
mobile apps too, and our LoadLog app is
a perfect example.
The oil and gas fields of North Dakota
is not exactly the place you'd expect to find the birth of a powerful, cutting
edge app. It's not very Silicon Valley. And,
if we're relying on stereotypes here, we wouldn't expect rough-neck truck
drivers -- those tough, gritty types (both men and women) who spend their days
(and nights) driving rural terrain in some of the roughest winter weather in
the nation -- to be too concerned with the ideas of tech wizards who spend their days (and nights) in offices coding.
But, in this case, Contensive bridged that gap and came up with a
highly innovative logistics app that has made the lives of these tireless
truckers much easier. The LoadLog is a hybrid online application that relies on
an SMS communication channel -- which is much more reliable in rural North
Dakota than standard web communication -- that automates their load logistics
and driver tickets and reduces the time-waste for the truckers who were
constantly filling out paper tickets and expending energy to keep them all in
order.
Truckers and coders make a good team after all.
And it is a dream come true for the dispatchers, who merely have
to log into the application dashboard to see where every truck is located, and
to see where the truck is in its workflow. They can issue new tickets to those
truckers who are ready for another route and calculate average delivery times,
which helps them set benchmarks for current times -- to name just a few of the
many features we programmed into that powerful logistics app.
Let Us Help You Create Your Next Big Idea
If you're looking for mobile application development
companies that are highly creative, responsive -- even to the
smallest nuances of your product development and marketing plan (which, these
days, are the same thing) -- contact us to find out what amazing things we can
build for you.
Open Up Feed