It is an App World for me

Back from vacation and wanted to share my perspective on how apps continue to grow in importance - especially in my world.

The apps on my iPhone pretty much ruled our existence down in Florida. We did not turn on the TV once while staying at my Mom's house or the radio. What a different media experience from five years ago and even two years ago - before apps were around.

I wanted to see how it was to exist only via the iPhone. And the experiment was very easy.

We used the Weather Channel app to give us weather updates. We used the WCCO-TV app to get national and Minnesota news updates. And also the USA Today app for news and entertainment happenings I used the ESPN SportsCenter app to get up-to-date sports results and the MLB.com to get the latest baseball scores. And I could listen to Patrick Reusee on the KSTP-AM 1500 app.

And one very important app that we used at the Walt Disney World parks was a cool app that showed the wait times at all the rides at the parks. This allowed us to use our time most efficiently during our visits to the Magic Kingdom and Epcot. How did we ever enjoy the parks without knowing how long the wait time was for the Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin ride as we walked over from Frontierland?

We used our iPhone to get us directions via Maps to Kennedy Space Center and keep up with the markets via Stocks. And it was easily to stay in touch on social media platforms with Foursquare, Tweetie and Facebook.

Clearly this demonstrated and reinforced for me how powerful the iPhone and apps are to how we go about our daily lives. It is the one technology device that truly does it all.

So why don't you try to use your smartphone as your only technology device for a weekend. Give up your laptop, give up your TV, give up your newspapers (ok most of you have done this), give up your radio and give up your landline phone.

So truly when someone says "do they have an app for that" - the answer is usually yes.

How important are apps to your world?