Just think of something you want to do… and now search on the internet to see if you have an app that helps you do it and voila, there it is! The mobile application (or Apps as they are fondly called) universe is so vast that it has pervaded almost all parts of our life – communicating with our friends and family, playing games, listening to music, searching information, editing text or photos, eating out, etc. While the initial focus of Apps was to provide entertainment or assist in productive work, the paradigm has now shifted towards “part-of-life” apps. These apps aid our every-day activities to help us lead a more utilized and meaningful life. Mobile applications have always been and continue to be a breeding ground for new startups despite the changing landscape in the app-world. Here are a few of those niche apps from budding entrepreneurs that are worlds apart from the ubiquitous chatting (text, voice and video), photo-editing and gaming applications.
Sprinting Ahead
Designed especially for those who have got their running boots on and raring to go, the MyNextRun App is a handy tool to find and register for running events. Founded in 2010 by a Finnish duo, the MyNextRun app’s business model is to charge running events organizers for listing their event on the app in return for the ability to cast a wider net for participation. In addition, the company uses add-ons selling, for e.g. travel packages to the events, running gear as a source of additional revenue. Funded by a set of private investors, this App shifted gears from a pilot project in Finland to a Euro-wide app late in 2013. With the world becoming a more health-conscious space and more people taking to running as an exercise, this app may sure set the running tracks on fire.
Taking you along for a Ride
Carma is a nifty car-pooling app that can inform registered users about the possibility of sharing a cab other commuters nearby. Based on GPS tracking and location information, the app helps users cut-down on the cost of the cab as they share the ride charges with fellow commuters with conservation of economic and environmental resources being an added benefit. Though established in 2007, this ride-sharing start-up is hoping to gain a new lease of life by converting this app into a “real-time” carpooling one. As the basic premise of the app is dependent upon a large user-base, Carma hopes that a real-time application would attract the critical mass of users in a quick adoption phase to ensure a smooth ride for the app.
Seeking Inner Peace
Each one of us has that moment of overwhelming emotion – be it anger or sorrow or fear tearing us apart. To tackle such situations, Richard Pierson and a monk-for-10-years Andy Puddicombe came up with the idea of a meditation app and thus, in 2010, Headspace was born! With Puddicombe’s expertise in meditation, the Headspace grew as an app making meditation not just accessible to everyone located anywhere in the world but also providing a personalized meditation experience at a place and time convenient to the user. Besides providing meditation sessions in the broad categories of Health, Performance and Relationships, the app innovatively uses the SOS sessions of 2 minutes to handle sudden moments of panic. With a user-base of 1 million in just 3 years re-affirming its importance, Headspace revamped its application to create Version 2 to enhance user experience and restore a sense of balance in a million more lives.
Apps like MyNextRun, Carma and Headspace are a stepping-stone to the next generation of Apps – ones that are truly integrated with every sphere of our lives. This space, currently in its primitive stages, offers a huge scope for innovation and idea-creation inviting entrepreneurs to take a plunge into the mind-bogglingly varied world of mobile applications!
Article by: Sarulakshmi, PGP 2013-15
