app

What's an app? It's a computer software program. It can refer to a larger software application such as Photoshop or email, or it can refer to a smaller smartphone application, more commonly known as an app. A "killer app" is an extremely good program.

Historical perspective: "There's an app for that," said Apple in a spate of ads for its popular iPhone smartphone. With a reported 100,000 apps as of late 2009 (now available on Android as well), free and paid apps ushered in an entirely new online experience:

• With an app you can make a dinner reservation
• Reserve an airplane seat
• Check your bank balance
• Read Excel spreadsheets
• Play Skee-ball
• Millions of the most popular apps are free
• Shazam identifies a song you're listening to and helps you buy it online
• Gas Buddy finds the cheapest fuel near your location
• Many cable and satellite companies offer apps that let you remotely program your DVR from anywhere in the world
• Other apps cost anywhere from 99 cents to a few dollars
• Save Benjis compares product prices across a number of stores
• Scrabble lets you play the classic game solo or with others, and so much more

The term "app" was listed as "Word of the Year" by the American Dialect Society in 2010.