THEGOVLOOPGUIDE
20.
5 Great Mobile Apps from Microsoft An article over on the Microsoft Government Blog reports about apps built exclusively for Microsoft Phone 7. The blog was written by Parul Bhandari, Government Industry Solutions Lead, Worldwide Public Sector. I thought it was an interesting look at some of the apps built for Microsoft mobile devices, and also a look at how much smartphones have impacted our professional and private lives. Parul states, “According to Forrester Research, one billion
consumers will own a smartphone by 2016—that’s roughly one seventh of the world’s population! For government, this represents a massive constituency of citizens who are increasingly accustomed to— and now expect—having access to mobile services served up via their smartphones.” This statistic shows the importance of government to continue to move towards developing mobile applications, mobile friendly websites and continue to work towards providing services on mobile devices. Parul talks briefly about the role Microsoft has played in the developer community, “For
several years now, we’ve even held developer competitions to help catalyze mobile app development in government. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out what our developer community has dreamed up for both federal and state and local government from recent competitions. Below are some of my personal favorite government apps that have been developed for Windows Phone 7.” Parul closes out his post by sharing some apps developed for Microsoft Phone 7. The five apps he identifies is Advanced Mobile 311, United Nations News, Eye on Earth, Love Clean Streets, and World of Politics. All of the apps are really cool examples of citizen engagement in the mobile space. Advanced Mobile 311 United Nations News Eye on Earth (Click to download PDF) Love Clean Streets World of Politics