Coined in the 2010s, the App Economy refers to the smartphone and tablet revolution whereby a mobile application is available for just about everything. Starting in 2008, Apple created the App Economy and coined its widely touted and trademarked slogan "There's an App for That." The App Economy quickly migrated to Android and other mobile platforms. Since then, tens of billions of mobile apps have been downloaded. See
app.
The App Economy enabled the "gig economy," whereby freelancers fill jobs that are normally performed by full-time employees (see
gig economy). See
New Economy and
economies.
Mobile Delivery
After thousands of Apple (iOS) and Android apps were created, two alternate mobile development methods gained momentum that eliminated the need for expertise in multiple programming languages. The first is the mobile website, which is a separate version delivered to phone users. Although a different set of Web pages, it is programmed in the same HTML/JavaScript languages of the desktop site.
The second method is the responsive website, which is also coded by a Web programmer. However, the responsive site simply adjusts to the size of the screen, and the same Web programming languages are used. See
responsive Web design.