Why I Love Smartphone Apps

As you all know, being a tech guy, I love gadgets and how they make our life easier. Occasionally I’ll come up against a person who longs for the ‘old’ days where life was a little less complicated and technology like the wireless and horse were the best ways to get information and travel, respectively.

But yesterday’s afternoon weather bomb that hit Sydney yesterday afternoon was a classic example of why I love technology – smartphone apps in particular.

I was in the city on business and got on the train and arrived at the Museum stop in the CBD and it was hosing down. Now, I had to walk to my destination and thought I’d sit it out, however there seemed to be no let up. So I hit my iPhone weather app, which had satellite images of the weather over Sydney and it soon became apparent that the clouds were going nowhere, but my appointment time was fast approaching.

I spied out the corner of my eye a bus stop. But when was the next bus, and more importantly, was it going in my direction and would it drop me off near my destination without looking like a drowned rat?

So I hit my timetable app on my smartphone, and viola! There it was, a bus was coming by in five minutes that would drop me off near my appointment.
And that folks, is why I love technology. Ten years ago, I would’ve waited out the storm or got saturated, and I would then have had to rely on getting a bus at random – or tried to figure out either via a printed timetable or asking a bus driver – to get uptown.

Forget the whole ‘I saved money on a cab fare because I used public transport’ argument. That benefit pales in comparison when compared with convenience and comfort, promptness and stree free transport.

So, this is just but one example of why I love technology – keeping life simple and helping out in those moments when all other avenues are closed.