What is mobile application.......?

               Mobile application

**A mobile application, most commonly referred to as an app, is a type of application software designed to run on a mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet computer.

**Mobile applications frequently serve to provide users with similar services to those accessed on PCs. Apps are generally small, individual software units with limited function.

**This use of app software was originally popularized by Apple Inc. and its App Store, which offers thousands of applications for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

**A mobile application also may be known as an app, web app, online app, iPhone app or smartphone app.
Mobile applications are a move away from the integrated software systems generally found on PCs. Instead, each app provides limited and isolated functionality such as a game, calculator or mobile web browsing.

**Although applications may have avoided multitasking because of the limited hardware resources of the early mobile devices, their specificity is now part of their desirability because they allow consumers to hand-pick what their devices are able to do.

**The simplest mobile apps take PC-based applications and port them to a mobile device. As mobile apps become more robust, this technique is somewhat lacking.
**A more sophisticated approach involves developing specifically for the mobile environment, taking advantage of both its limitations and advantages. For example, apps that use location-based features are inherently built from the ground up with an eye to mobile given that the user does not have the same concept of location on a PC.

**A mobile app is a computer program  designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone/tablet or watch.

**Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which run on desktop computers, and with web applications which run in mobile web browsers rather than directly on the mobile device.

**In 2009, technology columnist David Pogue  said that newer smartphones could be nicknamed "app phones" to distinguish them from earlier less-sophisticated smartphones.[1]The term "app", which is short for "software application", has since become very popular: In 2010, it was listed as "Word of the Year" by the American Dialect Societ

**Most mobile devices are sold with several apps bundled as pre-installed software, such as a web browser, email client, calendar, mapping program, and an app for buying music, other media, or more apps. Some pre-installed apps can be removed by an ordinary uninstall process, thus leaving more storage space for desired ones.

**Where the software does not allow this, some devices can be rooted to eliminate the undesired apps.

**Apps that are not preinstalled are usually available through distribution platforms called app stores. They began appearing in 2008 and are typically operated by the owner of the mobile operating system, such as the Apple App Store, Google Play, Windows Phone Store, and BlackBerry App World.

**However, there are independent app stores, such as Cydia, GetJar  and F-Droid. Some apps are free, while others must be bought. Usually, they are downloaded from the platform to a target device, but sometimes they can be downloaded to laptops or desktop computers. For apps with a price, generally a percentage, 20-30%, goes to the distribution provider (such as iTunes), and the rest goes to the producer of the app.
**The same app can, therefore, cost a different price depending on the mobile platform.

Apps can also be installed manually, for example by running an Android application package on Android devices.