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A mobile app is a computer program designed to run on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. Most such devices are sold with several apps included as pre-installed software, such as a web browser, email client, calendar, mapping program, and an app for buying music or other media or more apps. Some pre-installed apps can be removed by an ordinary uninstall process, thus leaving more storage space for desired ones. Where the software does not allow this, some devices can be rooted to eliminate the undesired apps. Mobile native apps stand in contrast to software applications that run on desktop computers, and to web applications which run in mobile web browsers rather than directly on the mobile device. == Overview == Apps that are not preinstalled are usually available through distribution platforms called app stores. They began appearing in 2008 and are typically operated by the owner of the mobile operating system, such as the Apple App Store, Google Play, Windows Phone Store, and BlackBerry App World. Some apps are free, while others must be bought. Usually, they are downloaded from the platform to a target device, but sometimes they can be downloaded to laptops or desktop computers. For apps with a price, generally a percentage, 20-30%, goes to the distribution provider (such as iTunes), and the rest goes to the producer of the app. The same app can therefore cost a different price depending on the mobile platform. The term "app" is a shortening of the term "application software". It has become very popular, and in 2010 was listed as "Word of the Year" by the American Dialect Society. In 2009, technology columnist David Pogue said that newer smartphones could be nicknamed "app phones" to distinguish them from earlier less-sophisticated smartphones. Mobile apps were originally offered for general productivity and information retrieval, including email, calendar, contacts, stock market and weather information. However, public demand and the availability of developer tools drove rapid expansion into other categories, such as those handled by desktop application software packages. As with other software, the explosion in number and variety of apps made discovery a challenge, which in turn led to the creation of a wide range of review, recommendation, and curation sources, including blogs, magazines, and dedicated online app-discovery services. In 2014 government regulatory agencies began trying to regulate and curate apps, particularly medical apps.〔Yetisen, A. K., Martinez-Hurtado, J. L., et al (2014). The regulation of mobile medical applications. Lab on a Chip, 14(5), 833-840. dx.doi.org/10.1039/C3LC51235E〕 Some companies offer apps as an alternative method to deliver content (media) with certain advantages over an official website. Usage of mobile apps has become increasingly prevalent across mobile phone users.〔Ludwig, Sean. December 5, 2012. (venturebeat.com ), study: "Mobile app usage grows 35%, TV & web not so much"〕 A May 2012 comScore study reported that during the previous quarter, more mobile subscribers used apps than browsed the web on their devices: 51.1% vs. 49.8% respectively.〔Perez, Sarah. July 2, 2012. "comScore: In U.S. Mobile Market, Samsung, Android Top The Charts; Apps Overtake Web Browsing." (techcrunch.com )〕 Researchers found that usage of mobile apps strongly correlates with user context and depends on user's location and time of the day.〔Matthias Böhmer, Brent Hecht, Johannes Schöning, Antonio Krüger, and Gernot Bauer. 2011. (Falling asleep with Angry Birds, Facebook and Kindle: a large scale study on mobile app usage ). In: Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Human Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services (MobileHCI '11). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 47-56.〕 Market research firm Gartner predicted that 102 billion apps would be downloaded in 2013 (91% of them free), which would generate $26 billion in the US, up 44.4% on 2012's US$18 billion. By Q2 2015, the Google Play and Apple stores alone generated $5 billion. An analyst report estimates that the app economy creates revenues of more than €10 billion per year within the European Union, while over 529,000 jobs have been created in 28 EU states due to the growth of the app market.〔VisionMobile, Plum Consulting, "(European App Economy" analyst report ), September 2013〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mobile app」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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