A Blast From The Past: The Very First Mobile Apps

By Author: chillrapp
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The very first function of mobile phones was only to call numbers and send texts. Nowadays, the mobile technology is so integrated into our lives that we tend to feel very uncomfortable when our batteries are empty, let alone the unfortunate situations when go anywhere without our phones.
We use them to instant chat, send photos, locations, exchange emails, record videos, use maps and GPS, write our chores, dates, etc. Now we can use them to learn, earn money and have fun. Those are all mobile apps we have today. But somewhere at the end of the twentieth century, the first mobile app was made. At first, those were just very small arcade games, editors for ring tones, calendars and calculators.
It was the period when the first ‘time-waster’ small arcade games were created. The first company to introduce them was Nokia in 1970s. The first game was the favorite Snake, included on their earliest mobile phones. After the Snake, there were Tetris, Tic-Tac-Toe, and Pong.
This technology changed the way people think and live. These small changes in developing mobile phones also changed the way people communicate. ...
... Soon after, the prices dramatically dropped, the quality of in-built batteries improved, and more people began carrying their handy machines.
Customer looked for more features and of course, more games. However, for manufacturers, the goal was not to create such apps, but to implement a portal for entertaining without allowing direct access to the handset. And then, there is the Internet. It was a game changer. By the late 1990s, websites were full of colors, loaded with texts, images and various types of media. Mobile phones at the time were not that strong to support this kind of entertainment, so they found a solution. The Wireless Application Protocol was made to make this happen. It is a stripped-down version of HTTP (the basic protocol of the WWW). WAP browsers are actually designed to run within the phone memory, so it was possible to use the Internet.
Some of the most popular WAP apps during this revolutionary time were wallpapers and ring tones catalogues. They allowed users to personalize they phones. And it was the second revolution. Then, the potential was huge. However, WAP browsers became too slow and using them left users frustrated. They needed even more. So, WAP didn’t deliver in commercial sense. It couldn’t deliver the speed and typing long URLs was devastating for users. Small screens couldn’t allow surfing and reading content online.
At the time, even children had their role in developing modern phones. They wanted personalized wallpapers and ring tones, but they also wanted their phones to be modern gaming consoles at the same time. It was a challenge for manufacturers. It meant implementing more memory, stronger batteries and operating systems. Manufacturers realized that they need to change their policies regarding design and their internal workings.
What happened next? The Palm OS, RIM Blackberry OS and many more were created to please the never-satisfied masses. The mobile phone market, or better – arena, became fragmented, and the war began. The rest is history.
Puneet Bangera is a Passionate blogger from India. Using mobile fund transfer app customers can send money to any of their phonebook contacts instantly. For more details visit mobile money transfer.