Just over a year ago, I wrote about the prolific rise of cross-platform mobile messaging apps along with the corresponding exodus of users in terms of “small circle conversation” on major social platforms. At that time , few people at my workshops or among clients ever heard of WhatsApp. Even up until very recently, I would still get blank stares when asking people if they knew anything about it.
As of today that will no longer be an issue.
Facebook just bought WhatsApp for $19 Billion.
I received a few emails recently asking me about my favourite mobile apps. Rather than responding individually I have decided to create a public blog post out of my response in case others are interested as well.
Out of the hundreds of apps (on iOS, BB and Android platforms) that I have downloaded since I purchased my first smartphone, there are very few that actually give me true utility on a regular basis. I have listed them below , organized into three categories.
For the record, I currently own an Android based Samsung Galaxy S3 as my smartphone , however my list was quite similar when I was using an iPhone 4 (nearly all of the apps listed below are available on both platforms). Also, I am not including native apps that came with my phone such as the internet browser, video player, music player, etc… which are used daily. I have also excluded any time-sensitive apps, which serve a useful purpose for a limited amount of time and then become obsolete (e.g. Olympics, Awards Shows, Superbowl, etc…).
Ok, the title may be a stretch, but I have put together a quick visual presentation of current government mobile apps and websites based on the input I received on my mobile government wiki. Why did I do this? I figured it might help some of you govies strengthen your case for mobile by showing what others have already done. Government organizations often like to follow the leader rather than lead (doesn’t apply to all of course , the leaders know who they are).