Seybold's take: Finding and choosing the right mobile app isn't easy

There are about a zillion applications out in wireless land. Apple reports more than 80,000 apps in its App Store, Android is touting more than 5,000, Brew must have 50,000 or more, and Java has at least that many. There are apps for every conceivable thing you might want to do: use your iPhone as a level, find a taxi or a clean restroom, check the news or weather, make airplane reservations, check your blood sugar level, and on it goes. There are many talented programmers out there and every day we are besieged with a multitude of new applications.

Individual, unique apps are one thing and finding them using a search engine is not too difficult, but what do you do when you search for an expense application for your device and 50 show up on the list? A few sites let customers rate applications they have downloaded and are using, which is helpful in narrowing the possibilities, but these smart programmers are competing with each other, and their applications tend to get lost in huge repositories of applications.

I am usually sitting next to my computer in my office or home when I am trying to find an application for my smartphone, and most smartphone subscribers have a PC at their disposal. Why don't programmers work with the app stores, or take it on themselves to provide a pilot version of their application that I can download onto my PC and try out? I, for one, would purchase more applications if I could sit comfortably at my desk and try them out on a smartphone simulator on my desktop, and once satisfied that it is the right application and does what I want it to do, download it. If this type of demo was available across all the app stores, it would certainly make life easier, and it could be leveraged by both the application developer and the app store, much like when you purchase a book from Amazon.com or buy a piece of electronics gear from BestBuy.com.

In both of these cases, there are ads at the bottom of the screen for products that have been purchased by those who bought the book or device you are buying. Or the space could be used by developers to advertise other applications they have written, or even applications that work in concert with the one you are trying out. Writing really good applications is tough. I tried my hand at programming just once, many years ago, and decided I am not creative enough in that way, so I have a huge respect for people who can sit down, define a problem that needs addressing or something that might be fun, and then code it into an application that can be purchased and run by the rest of us.

As the applications market continues to expand, it is getting harder and harder to find the applications I might want, and harder still to determine which of the applications listed would work best for me. I would think that applications developers who are in the business to provide applications for others and make money would want every possible advantage when it comes to marketing their programs.

It is great if your application is listed as a featured product on an app store for a short period of time or it is promoted by word-of-mouth, but what you really need is a way to get the applications in front of potential customers on a daily basis and to let them try the program before buying it.

And I don't mean trying them on my smartphone, I mean trying them on a simulator on my desktop or laptop and then buying them and downloading them to my device. When I found out about WorldMate Live, I loaded it on my computer first, and while I did not get a simulator of my BlackBerry, I was at least able to explore the capabilities it offered and make a decision to upgrade to the professional version. But my quest for a really good expense application for my BlackBerry remains unfulfilled even today. I am sure there are some really great expense applications I could use already in the market, but I am really tired of downloading samples and trying them on my device. Worst of all, some expect me to purchase their program based on the description on the app store site. Unless I know how it works and whether it fits the way I travel, I won't spend even $1 on an application I might end up throwing away. I want to test drive every application before buying it.

Apple's App Store is perhaps the closest to what I am looking for. There is a screen shot of the application running on the device so I can get an idea of the look and feel, and there is an in-depth description of the offering. If this screen shot was turned into an interactive demo and there were peer reviews, I think the store's sales would increase dramatically.

It would be helpful for these app store sites to have peer reviews of products, but it would certainly be more helpful to me to be able to try them out on my PC and then decide which ones I want to buy. I will continue to look for the perfect expense reporting system for my BlackBerry, and I will continue to search the app stores for applications, but before I unleash my credit card, I want to know what I am buying and that it really will entertain me, help me do my job better, or make my life easier.

Andrew Seybold is an authority on technology and trends shaping the world of wireless mobility. A respected analyst, consultant, commentator, author and active participant in industry trade organizations, his views have influenced strategies and shaped initiatives for telecom, mobile computing and wireless industry leaders worldwide. www.andrewseybold.com