An App a day?

So I probably shouldn't admit this but I have been slacking lately. If you read my prior post you know I went to Disney World with the family for a few days, and then returned home for a few hours of me time and a golf trip with the 'fellas.

While there is no need to rehash those trips (especially the second) I did learn something pretty significant while away that I wanted to share with you - smart phone apps are going to run our lives...and soon.

For those of you who don't know, a mobile phone "app" is a software program that runs on your phone that allows you to do something you would normally do on your computer. One simple example of a mobile phone app is YouTube, which created a tool for users on their phones to search for, watch, and share video right from their handheld device. Not important??? Try (or remember) keeping a 3 year old entertained for two hours after clearing TSA security and finding out your flight is delayed :)


During the course of my Disney trip I utilized a mobile app that helped me navigate the Magic Kingdom (complete with a GPS pointer to show me where I was at all times) and also managed wait times and appearance schedules and (most importantly) had all the bathrooms listed. C'mon...you can't tell me that's not cool! How many times have we all wandered around an amusement park, map in hand trying to figure out where the roller coasters are? I know this one was so worth the $0.99 investment.

But apps aren't just for playtime. Check out this free app I downloaded that works as a mortgage calculator. While certainly no replacement for the world's best Mortgage Mobility team, this little zinger can give you a quick "on the road" review of what a house will really cost.

Of course there are plenty of apps to help with real estate search. One of my favorites (ignoring bias for a second) is the Coldwell Banker app, available for both the iPhone and the Google Android. What I like is that it pulls in your GPS location (remember like I said in the Magic Kingdom) and helps you find homes that are near where you are - allowing you to find the info on a particular property nearby even without having to know the name of the town (which is great here where post office and municipality don't always match).

There was also another app that kept all my golf scores, but I am too embarrassed to even post the screen shot - know that it kept the leaderboard for our event (8 guys in two different foursomes always knew who was in the lead even with handicaps figured in) and also gave us course data to help us line things up. Made the four days of golf even more awesome.

With more than 1.5 Billion (yes B) app downloads so far and more than 300,000 apps already built I know you can find ones that do just about everything if you look. The key is that you 1) know what they are 2) think about buying a phone to use them and 3) start investigating which ones are available for you.