The New Essential Apps April 2011: iPhone, Android, iPad and Windows Phone
iPhones. iPads. Android. And Windows Phone 7! We've updated all of our essential apps lists to include a few forgotten favorites, some long awaited arrivals and, as always, even more amazing apps.
Context & Ripple Effects
A year after Gizmodo published its first essential iPad apps list, the franchise has grown into a four-platform roundup covering iPhone, Android, iPad and Windows Phone 7 — a format that only works because Microsoft's developer-first push for Windows Phone 7, flagged by Ars Technica back in August 2010, has had time to seed an actual catalog worth curating.
First-order effects
- Windows Phone 7 earns inclusion alongside the two dominant platforms just weeks after confirmed reports that Android overtook the iPhone in US smartphone market share, meaning app editors now treat three phone OSes as viable daily drivers.
Second-order effects
- With Android holding the share lead and both Apple and Microsoft courting the same developers, exclusive apps stop being a differentiator — platforms shift to competing on discovery and curation, which is exactly the editorial territory Gizmodo's list occupies.
Third-order effects
- If catalog parity keeps spreading, Research In Motion's absence from mainstream essentials lists hardens into a structural signal: app breadth becomes table stakes and the contest moves to who controls distribution and recommendation atop the stores.
The trend: Mobile competition is migrating from hardware specs to app-catalog completeness, with third-party curation filling the gap as store listings multiply.