Posted: 3/16/2011By: Lindsey Graham
Mobile apps are not just a tool of business marketing and advertising. They are, in fact, necessary tools to millions of small business owners, a recent survey found.
Nearly three-fourths, 72 percent, of small companies indicated they use mobile apps in their day-to-day business operations, according to the AT&T Small Business Technology Poll. Furthermore, 38 percent of these respondents said that either they couldn't survive or it would be major challenge to survive without these apps.
Time savings, increased productivity and reduction of costs were all cited by respondents as reasons for adopting the technology. However, the most popular apps were those that helped owners find out where they were going, with 49 percent reporting that they use GPS/navigation and mapping mobile apps.
Businesses are not just using mobile apps to help improve their own daily routines. Many are leveraging the technology to provide consumers with new services and, thus, increase revenues.
Even mobile websites are beginning to mimic the usability of apps. "In the next year or two, it will be practical to create mobile websites that behave just like apps for all practical purposes, yet will work on a very wide variety of phones," Aaron Maxwell, of Mobile Web Up, told Inc. Technology.