Mobile Application (Mobile App)

Definition - What does Mobile Application (Mobile App) mean?

A mobile application, most commonly referred to simply as an "app," is a type of application software designed to run on a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet computer. Mobile applications frequently serve to provide users with similar services to those they access on their PCs. Apps are generally small, individual software units with limited function. This use of software has been popularized by Apple Inc. and its App Store, which sells thousands of applications for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

A mobile application may also be known as an app, Web app, online app, iPhone app or smartphone app.

Techopedia explains Mobile Application (Mobile App)

Mobile applications are a move away from the integrated software systems generally found on PCs. Instead, each app provides limited and isolated functionality such as a game, calculator or mobile Web browsing. Although applications may have avoided multitasking because of the limited hardware resources of the early mobile devices, their specificity is now part of their desirability because they allow consumers to hand-pick what their devices are able to do.

The simplest mobile apps take PC-based applications and port them to a mobile device. As mobile apps become more robust, this technique is somewhat lacking. A more sophisticated approach involves developing specifically for the mobile environment, taking advantage of both its limitations and advantages. For example, apps that use location-based features are inherently built from the ground up with an eye to mobile given that you don't have the same concept of location on a PC.

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