What Do All These Phone Apps Do? Mostly Marketing

Behind the land rush to apps is a belief that they may be some of the cleverest advertising devised. They are, after all, advertisements that people voluntarily choose to watch and share with friends. Some are even consulted in store aisles when customers decide what to buy. "Apps have a huge advantage," said Carl Howe, a mobile market analyst for the Yankee Group. "You had to take a step to get it; you are already half sold." When people open an app, they give it full attention. The biggest challenge for apps as ads for now is that they are best suited to niche markets. No single kind of phone holds a big enough audience to attract many mass-market national brands.