We all remember the 2012 study that revealed making a phone call is only the fifth most popular use for mobile phones, right?
We are living in an incredibly exciting time where mobile phones are no longer being used to just make calls and send text messages. There are becoming devices with endless possibilities. The popularity of smartphones has established a flourishing market for mobile apps and we talk a lot about them here on #HowToStartAFire. For instance, Hitlist, Humin, Traces, Mootch, etc. But, as more adults are increasingly turning to mobile apps, so are their children. According to a 2013 mobile study, children under the age of 2, 38% had used mobile devices like iPhones, tablets or Kindles for educational apps. So far, the U.S. has been the fastest to adopt mobile apps. According to some experts, the app revolution rivals the industrial revolution; there is even a Kickstarter project aimed to raise money to make a documentary about the human side of the app revolution.
The catalyst for this revolution is clear: simplicity, convenience and added-value. With these alone, apps are changing the way we live our lives in a big way. They are replacing books, maps, MP3 players, etc. The world just can’t get enough of mobile apps. According to some research, the average user has 41 apps on their device, and as of October 2014, Apple has a total download of 85 billion apps from games, and music to productivity and health-related apps. People are spending more and more of their time on apps and favor social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and Whatsapp.
This new habit is a golden opportunity for businesses. A successful mobile application can readily provide another revenue channel, boost productivity, efficiency, competitive edge and user experience aside from your website and/or brick and mortar store. So, what are the ways you can use the power of mobiles apps to your business advantage:
What Sparks Our Fire: Apps have become powerful tools in our everyday lives, but more importantly have redefined the way businesses and marketers can approach consumers.
Have you already joined the revolution or are you left behind?
]]>The app took over 10 years to develop and uses an exclusive RT Track 64 facial-tracking-algorism to deliver the most precise facial recognition through a live mirror camera. It allows you to see what you really look like with certain shades of makeup on in real-time as you turn your face, change your facial expression and take various angles.
So, if you ever found yourself trapped in the makeup aisle at a drugstore for hours trying to figure out the perfect shade of lipstick, blush, eye shadow or eyeliner and end up covering every square inch of the back of your hand with different colors, you will love this app. Simply put, you can now test out the colors virtually and make your purchase without having to go to the store and make your hands look like a palette.
How it Works
1. Download the app (works on iPhone or iPad)
2. Take a selfie
3. Let the app scan your face
4. Apply virtual makeup (you can choose up to 300 color cosmetics plus it also works on all ethnicities and allows for 400 lighting situations)
5. Purchase your perfect match instantly
What Sparks Our Fire: A free makeup app using the latest augmented reality technology to help save time in your search for the perfect makeup shade.
Have you tried Makeup Genius? Share your thoughts!
]]>While there are a number of things you can do to find the cheapest airfare, timing is everything when it comes to getting the best deals.
Hitlist is a mobile app that knows when it’s least expensive for you to book a flight to your pre-picked destinations, saving you the trouble of regularly checking travel websites. So, if you have a bucket travel list, but also a budget, Hitlist will keep tabs on travel search engines, notifying you when it’s the best time to fly to any of your selected locations. For example, you can create an alert that notifies you if/when flights to Buenos Aires are listed at $650 or less.
Among other customizable features, you can pick the best airport for your travel needs, make your Hitlist public or private, and specify if you’d like to travel only on weekends (or whenever). And there’s also a cool world map to show you all the places you plan to go to or have visited already.
What Sparks Our Fire: A mobile app that finds you the best deals on flights and helps you travel the world more affordably
What places around the globe would you save through Hitlist?
]]>Mootch – a platform for on-demand peer-to-peer and business-to-consumer renting of everyday goods with delivery and pick-up – has finally invented a way to make renting simple and safe. So, for example, if you have electronics, appliances or designer items that you seldomly use, you can make extra cash by renting them out to others. And the same goes for when you’re in need of an expensive device, mode of transportation or appliance that you may only be using for a couple of days, but don’t want to buy. Someone in your area probably has one you could rent.
Like many other mobile apps in the sharing economy, you can make money by safely and securely renting out your own stuff as well as cut expenses by renting when you need to do so.
What Sparks Our Fire: A mobile app to rent pretty much anything to and from people around you
What items would you rent through Mootch?
]]>Facebook is killing it this week.
App Links are Facebook’s new tools, attempting to make it easier for developers to link other applications from their own apps. For instance, if someone tapped on a post from Tumblr in their Facebook feed, they would be taken directly to the Tumblr app rather than a mobile browsing window. This kind of programming exists, and has been called mobile deep linking, but it’s not easy to use since many apps interact in different ways on different platforms in relation to each other.
Using the open-sourced App Links, developers can code the links directly into the guts of their web page, taking a user directly from one app to another without having to login to the other app or getting booted to a mobile page. It’s all about streamlining the process, and helping mobile applications interact seamlessly with each other.
What Sparks Our Fire: Solving a major problem and open-sourcing the solution.
What apps would you like to see linked to each other in this way?
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