mobile applications

What has gone wrong that we are increasingly carrying more and more computing power in our pockets with small computers modeled after Captain Kirk's Star Trek communicator used only for talking? True, they still fulfill their main task, but it seems that there are fewer and fewer of them ... Every day we use applications installed on smartphones and not only. Here is the history of these applications.

1973 Motorola engineer Martin Cooper from Ukraine called his competitor Joel Engel from Bell Labs on a mobile phone. The first mobile phone was created thanks to Captain Kirk's fascination with the communicator from the sci-fi series Star Trek.see also: ).

Phone Collaborate, it was called a brick, which resembled its appearance and weight (0,8 kg). It was released for sale in 1983 as the $4 Motorola DynaTA. U.S. DOLLAR. The device required several hours of charging, which was enough for 30 minutes of talk time. There was no question of any applications. As Cooper pointed out, his mobile device did not have the tens of millions of transistors and processing power that would allow him to use the phone other than to make calls.

1984 British company Psion introduces Psion Organizer (1), the world's first handheld computer and first applications. Based on an 8-bit Hitachi 6301 processor and 2 KB of RAM. The organizer measured 142×78×29,3 mm in a closed case and weighed 225 grams. It was also the first mobile device with applications such as a database, calculator, and clock. Not much, but the software allowed users to write their own POPL programs.

1992 At the COMDEX() international fair in Las Vegas, US companies IBM and BellSouth present an innovative device that is a combination of a spottop and a mobile phone - IBM Simon Personal Communicator 3(2). The smartphone went on sale a year later. It had 1 megabyte of memory, a black and white touch screen with a resolution of 160x293 pixels.

2. Personal communicator IBM Simon 3

The IBM Simon works as a telephone, pager, calculator, address book, fax, and email device. It was equipped with several applications such as an address book, calendar, planner, calculator, world clock, electronic notebook, and a drawing screen with a stylus. BM has also added a Scramble game, a kind of puzzle game where you have to make a picture out of scattered puzzles. In addition, third-party applications could be added to IBM Simon via a PCMCIA card or by downloading the application to the .

1994 The joint work of Toshiba and the Danish company Hagenuk debuts on the market - phone MT-2000 with a cult application - Tetris. Khagenyuk was one of the first to use a 1984 puzzle designed by Russian software engineer Alexei Pajitnov. The device is equipped with programmable keys that can be used for various functions as needed. It was also the first telephone with a built-in antenna.

1996 Palm released the world's first successful PDA, the Pilot 1000 (3), which gave impetus to the development of smartphones and games. The PDA fit in a shirt pocket, offered 16 MHz of computing power, and the 128 KB internal memory could store up to 500 contacts. In addition, it had an effective handwriting recognition application and the ability to synchronize the Palm Pilot with both PCs and Mac computers, which determined the success of this personal computer. The initial suite of applications included a calendar, address book, to-do list, notes, dictionary, calculator, security, and HotSync. The application for the game Solitaire is developed by Geoworks. The Palm Pilot ran on the Palm OS operating system and ran for several weeks on two AAA batteries.

1997 Nokia launches model phone 6110 with the game Snake (4). From now on, every Nokia phone will come with a dot-eating snake app. The author of the application Taneli Armanto, a software engineer from a Finnish company, is a private fan of the computer game Snake. A similar game appeared in 1976 as Blockade and its subsequent versions: Nibbler, Worm or Rattler Race. But Snake launched it from Nokia phones. A few years later, in 2000, the Nokia 3310, with a modified version of the Snake game, became one of the best-selling GSM phones.

1999 WAP is born, a wireless application protocol (5) supported by the new WML language () − simplified HTML version. The standard, created at the initiative of Nokia, was supported by a number of other companies, incl. Unwired Planet, Ericsson and Motorola. The protocol was supposed to allow the provision and sale of services over the Internet. Goes on sale the same year Nokia 7110, the first phone with the ability to browse the Internet.

WAP solved problems with transmission of information, lack of memory space, LCD screens are introduced, as well as the way of operation and functions of the microbrowser. This unified specification has opened up new business opportunities such as electronic sales of applications, games, music and video. Companies have used the standard to charge quite high fees for applications limited to devices from one manufacturer or even assigned to only one particular model. As a result, WML has been replaced by Java Micro Edition. JME dominates mobile platforms, which is used in Bada and Symbian operating systems, and its implementations in Windows CE, Windows Mobile, and Android.

5. Wireless application protocol with logo

2000 It goes on sale Ericsson R380 smartphone with Symbian operating system. The name "smartphone", coined by the Swedish company, has become a popular term for multimedia and mobile devices with a calling function. The Swedish smartphone did not stand out in any way, only after opening the lid with the keyboard presented. The software allowed you to surf the Internet, recognize handwriting, or relax by playing reversi. The first smartphone did not allow you to install additional applications.

2001 Debut of the first version Symbian, which is created (initiated by Nokia) based on Psion's EPOC software. Symbian is a developer-friendly application and, at one point, the most popular mobile operating system in the world. The system provides interface generation libraries, and applications can be written in many languages ​​such as Java MIDP, C++ Python, or Adobe Flash.

2001 Apple provides a free app ITunesand soon invites you to shop in the iTunes Store (6). iTunes was built around the SoundJam app and music playback software for personal computers that Apple bought two years earlier from developer Casady & Greene.

First, the application allowed individual songs to be legally purchased over the Internet and for all users, because Apple took care of the Windows version of iTunes catering to a large group of users. In just 18 hours after the launch of the service, about 275 songs were sold. The app has revolutionized the way music and movies are sold.

6. iTunes Store app icon

2002 Canadians offer BlackBerry 5810, a Java-based phone with innovative BlackBerry email. The cell had a WAP browser and a set of business applications. The BlackBerry 5810 also provided wireless e-mail, which permanently connected the phone to the Canadian company's servers, allowing users to send and receive e-mail in real time without having to update their inbox.

2002 First phone with A-GPS app available. Initially, the service was provided by Verizon (USA) for owners of Samsung SCH-N300 phones. A-GPS technology has allowed the development of many applications related to positioning, incl. "Find Nearby", such as an ATM, an address, or with traffic information.

July 2005 Google buys Android Inc. for $50 million The company was known for its rather niche digital camera software. At the time, no one knew that the three founders of Android were hard at work on an operating system that could compete with Symbian. While developers continued to create an operating system on the Linux kernel for mobile devices, Google was looking for devices for Android. The first Android phone was the HTC Dream (7), which went on sale in 2008.

7. HTC Dream is the first Android smartphone

August 2005 BlackBerry provides the BBM app, BlackBerry Messenger (8). The Canadian mobile phone and video telephony app has proven to be extremely secure and free of spam. Messages can only be received from people previously added to the mailing list, and thanks to BBM Protected encryption, messages are not spyed or hacked in transit. The Canadians have also made their BlackBerry messenger available to iOS and Android device users. The BBM app had 10 million downloads on its first day, and 20 million in its first week.

8. BlackBerry Messenger application

2007 introduces the first generation iPhone and sets the standard for iOS. The timing was perfect: in 2006, a record one billion songs were sold on the iTunes Store. Jobs called the presented Apple device "revolutionary and magical." He described them as a combination of three mobile devices: "a widescreen iPod with touch buttons"; "Revolutionary mobile phone"; and "a breakthrough in instant messaging". He showed that the phone has a really large touch screen without a keyboard, but with Multi-Touch technology.

Additional innovations are, for example, the rotation of the image on the screen depending on the device setting (vertical-horizontal), the ability to put songs and movies in the phone's memory using the iTunes application and browse the web using the Safari browser. The competition shrugged its shoulders, and after six months, customers rushed into the shops. The iPhone has changed the smartphone market and the habits of its users. In July 2008, Apple launched the App Store, a digital app platform for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.

2008 Google is launching Android Market (now Google Play Store) just a few months after the debut of Apple's flagship product. Google in its development strategy Android system he focused on apps that were supposed to be available free of charge and for free on the Android Market. The "Android Developer Challenge I" competition for developers has been announced, and the authors of the most interesting applications - SD packageK, which includes the necessary tools and instructions for developers. The effects were impressive because there wasn't enough space in the store for all the apps.

2009 Rovio, a Finnish company on the brink of bankruptcy, has added Angry Birds to the App Store. The game quickly conquered Finland, got into the promotion of the game of the week, and then subsequent downloads exploded. In May 2012, Angry Birds became the #1 app with over 2 billion downloads on various platforms. New versions of the application, additions, and in 2016 a cartoon about the adventures of a flock of birds were created.

2010 The application is recognized as the word of the year. The popular tech term was highlighted by the American Dialect Society because the word generated a lot of interest from people this year.

2020 A series of applications for risk communication (9). Mobile applications are becoming an important element of the strategy to combat the global pandemic.

9. Singapore epidemic app TraceTogether