They have caught on partly because many websites do not look good on phones’ tiny screens. Apps do a much better job of making the best of the space available. Using them is intuitive, by & large. Many are free; most others cost about one US dollar.

Another reason why apps have proved popular is that, unlike websites, they do not need a constant connection to the internet. Instead, they are stored in mobile gadgets’ silicon memories & refreshed when a new connection is available. This also explains why they launch so much faster than software on PCs.

Today, there are more than 4,25,000 apps in Apple’s on-line store & more than 2,50,000 on Google’s Android Market. But a recent survey showed that 10 most popular apps accounted for 43% of usage & the top 50 for a whopping 61%.

I have on my Apple I-phone a few apps that are particularly useful: the price of a few stocks; the weather report of the cities that I am interested in & a few more. These apps give instant information without having to log on to a website. The information is available in about 5-10 seconds & is neatly formatted.

The popular apps are : Weather, Facebook, Google Maps, Games, Music.

The online stores offering Apps are: Apple, Android Market, GetJar, MobiHand, PocketGear, Mobango etc.

Vertical integration is the addition of businesses that do things coming either just before the  company’s existing processes, or just after. For example, were a car manufacturer to open a steel plant, it would be a case of  “backward vertical integration.” Were it to buy a chain of car retailers, it would be a case of “forward vertical integration”.

Were the car manufacturer to start making trucks it would be a case of horizontal integration.

All types of integration involve both costs & benefits. Horizontal integration can often seem to offer economies of scale, from say, bulk buying of components & raw materials. Vertical integration offers greater control over the firm’s inputs or outputs. Predicting what these costs & benefits might be is never easy. One crucial calculation should always  be: what is the danger of disintegration should the integration not work?