Why Chattanooga Loves Its Apps

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Zach Turner

Writer: Amber Lanier Nagle

Zach Turner realizes he is an addict, but he simply cannot stop himself from downloading free applications onto his smartphone, an HTC Droid Eris he purchased six months ago. The temptation to download is much too powerful — there are so many apps to choose from, and they are just so easy to acquire and use.

“Check this one out,” he says, oozing with enthusiasm as he begins his demo. “I downloaded the DIRECTV app just a few weeks ago, and it has become my DVR savior.”

With just a touch, he pulls up his DIRECTV account and schedules his home DVR to record a television show later that afternoon while he is at work. The process takes less than sixty seconds.

“Apps make my life easier and give me more freedom,” Turner adds, as he touches the screen. “Here’s another one of my favorites — YouMail.” Th e screen lists Turner’s voicemails sequentially with names, phone numbers, and time stamps. “YouMail transforms the callers’ voices into text messages, so I can read the messages instead of having to punch in a code and listen to a long drawnout voice message over and over again. It eliminates a lot of the headaches associated with voicemail.”

As the Mobile Phone Manager at Best Buy on Gunbarrel Road, Turner keeps pace with the ever-changing landscape of mobile phone technology and doles out each day impartial and informed advice and suggestions to dozens of customers — men and women, young and old. When he first started working with mobile phone customers two years ago, smartphones made up a mere ten percent of the cell phone market. Today, smartphones command just under sixty percent of the market and that number continues to climb rapidly. A study conducted by comScore earlier this year observed that over 45 million people in the United States already own a smartphone.

But what makes a smartphone so smart? Simple — these small, all-in-one devices combine communication with computing functions. “They differ from traditional feature phones in that they also have Internet capability, PDA functions, operating systems (OS), and the ability to add and run advanced applications — apps,” says Turner. “These phones are actually palm-sized minicomputers.”

Users quickly learn to customize their smartphones by loading them with apps — lots of cool, fun, interesting, and practical apps that boost the limits of these already powerful gadgets. There are apps for people who love to cook, apps for people who like up-to-the-minute news, apps for social networking butterflies, apps for weather watchers, apps for people who need a little help organizing life, apps for travelers, and apps for avid gamers. If you can dream it up, there’s probably already an app for it.

In fact, there are well over 30,000 apps designed for Android™-powered phones like Motorola’s Droid and HTC’s Hero™, and Apple boasts over 185,000 free and fee-based apps that woo iPhone users.

Tom Herring, a sixth grade world history teacher and wrestling coach at McCallie, is a devoted Apple customer. He has an unlocked first generation iPhone, an iTouch, and just recently purchased an iPad 3G — all of which run apps.

“I have lots of favorite apps,” he says, ready and willing to show them off . “I paid $14.99 for MLB at Bat 2010. It allows me to listen to any Major League Baseball game and watch one or two games each day — no matter where I am. I also subscribe to MLB.TV online, which allows me and other users of the app to watch any game not subject to blackouts.”

He keeps a few digital books on his iPhone and reads them from time to time using his Amazon Kindle app. The small screen is surprisingly clear and readable, and Amazon offers an ample menu of over 500,000 titles to its users.

“The Fandango app is great for ordering movie tickets whenever and wherever my family gets a sudden urge for a movie outing,” says Herring. “My phone finds theaters closest to my location and lists the movies playing at them and the times. I can even watch movie trailers, read reviews, and purchase tickets in advance — all with a flick of my finger.”

He also uses iPhone’s Yelp application to check-out nearby restaurants, their menus, pricing, and what customers are saying about the cuisine and service. He uses an app to access a library of significant historical documents that he uses in his classroom, an app to share files between his desktop computers and his Apple devices, and yet another app to print directly from his iPhone.

Herring’s thirst for knowledge, convenience, and productivity has led him to embrace the smartphone technology that allows him and other users to customize their mobile devices based on preferences and needs. “Any device that delivers information to the user when it’s needed has the potential to make one knowledgeable and successful,” he says. “I feel we need to do all we can to promote such opportunities, while guarding against the potential negatives.”

Josh McManus, iPhone user and cofounder of Chattanooga’s CreateHere, shares Herring’s passion for “technology at our fingertips” and “power in our pockets.”

“Smartphones and their associated apps are fantastic to the point that they allow you to do more of the things that you want to do in the places that you want to do them,” McManus says. “I like to think of them as tools — not toys — that can be used as a platform for greater efficiency and connectivity.”

FUN AND GAMES “I love TETRIS and SCRABBLE for their entertainment value, and I also get a kick out of Ghost Radar, an app that supposedly detects paranormal activity — like ghosts — in my vicinity.” –David Aft, iPhone User

COOL APPS THAT HAVE PEOPLE AROUND CHATTANOOGA RAVING

FITNESS

“My favorite app is called Cyclemeter. It uses GPS technology to map and track my bicycle rides.”

—Josh McManus, iPhone User

MUSIC

“I use my Pandora application probably the most often. I input a favorite song or artist, and Pandora builds a continuous radio station featuring similar artists and music.”

—Emily Lilley, BlackBerry® Curve User

“Shazam is one of my favorite apps. I just point my phone towards the music and it recognizes the song and gives me the option to purchase the song on iTunes.”

—Katherine Nielsen, iPhone User

COMPUTING

“I use PdaNet. It allows me to tether my phone to a computer giving me Internet access without the need for a costly tethering package from my wireless phone provider.”

—Curtis Meyers, HTC Droid Eris User

PHOTO EDITING

“CameraBag is an easy and powerful app that allows me to edit the light, color and composition of photos that I shoot with my phone. These pictures are always better because of my ability to easily manipulate them.”

— Helen Davis Johnson, iPhone User

SOCIAL NETWORKING

I use the Facebook® app to stay connected with friends and family.

— Emily Lilley, BlackBerry® Curve User

FUN AND GAMES

“Ringdroid is very cool. It lets me make ringtones from any song on my phone.”

—Zach Turner, HTC Droid Eris User

NEWS

“I keep up with the news with the NYTimes and MobileRSS apps.”

—Tom Herring, iPhone User

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