APPLE now boasts more than 250,000 applications, or ‘apps’, for its iPhone. And the better the app, the simpler it will make your life, explains Mohamed Alkady of California-based after10studios who is in Jamaica for today’s two-day Caribbean SME Business Technology Exposition and Media Conference, to be held at the Courtleigh Auditorium in New Kingston.

Alkady’s company previously partnered with alarm maker Directed Electronics to produce the Viper SmartStart app, which can start your car via an iPhone. He reports that app development has grown his business 140 per cent since last year.

Today, his client base includes Microsoft, Dell, Intel, and Sony covering mobile platforms including Apple, BlackBerry, Android, and Windows.

After10studies entered the app market with an iPhone version of the classic Nintendo video game Duck Hunt. But from that point his company has focused on apps that provide utility rather than just fun, a trend he says mirrors the wider market.

“Now you are looking at consumer simplicity like with the Viper. Getting in and out of your car is something you do several times a day but we simplified it. People now install hundreds of apps but there are only about two or three apps which they will use everyday,” Alkady told Business Observer yesterday.

His company is currently working on an app which, ‘helps you get things done with friends’. For example, if you are organising an event you will be able to co-ordinate with friends to complete the to-do list, attaching photos and using maps to help organise your surprise party or barbecue — equally such apps could be used for tasks at work.

Wayne Chen, CEO of SuperPlus, will be another speaker at the conference. Business Observer asked Alkaldy how a supermarket business, such as SuperPlus, could use apps to improve its customer experience and sales. Simply, he replies.

“What a supermarket can do with an app is help people prepare their grocery list, check inventories and purchase items. It also helps you spread the word about new products since you can notify a customer via the app,” he said.

Alkady will be speaking tomorrow, the second day of the conference, on how companies are using social media. He is expected to draw a line between one-way communication and more meaningful interaction between business and consumer via social networks.