Virtual applications: What I'd Build if I Could...

I read InformationWeek every week and find all sorts of information. (Let me know if anyone wants a free subscription). Admittedly, much of what they write about is outside my comprehension technically but it remains a great source of trends, business intelligence, and opinionated content worth thought.

Today I read about mobile applications that enterprises are considering and developers are producing. The General Motors Cruze looks promising but they're hoping to sell some of them without customers visiting dealerships. We all learn about new applications for our iPhones and Blackberry's but if you're like me you're wondering when are the real good ones coming and why some are being developed in the first place. Here's what I'd build if I could...

• Groceries Now App: Need food? Only some deli? Check off what you need/want, route to your nearest participating grocer, pick up on the fly. Bill me monthly with a $25 monthly access fee.  
• Pandora in the Car: Internet radio is just ok. Give me a subscription to Pandora run right through my car's audio system. Eliminate me plugging in my Blackberry. Or better yet...
• The World's Biggest Media Library: Put every song, book, film, play, anything digital online to be accessed on demand through one portal instead of forcing everyone to have memberships to umpteen different sources of entertainment. I guess this more a business idea but still...
• Mobile Translator: Like Dragon Naturally Speaking but for the mobile device. Could be used to dial, play chess, written communication, documents, surfing the web. Anything to eliminate typing.
• Child Track: Want to know where your kids are? Give them a family plan device that directly reports location to the parent device real time without any footprint the children can access, deny, or disable.
• Banking: An application that would require widespread security and cooperative thought. Enter your personal encrypted financial site to access accounts, pay bills, schedule payments, receive payments, transfer funds, make investments, whatever you need. Use your Mobile Translator to quickly navigate.
• Voting: Tie into your local precinct to vote online. Furthermore, once our elected leaders are in office have auto updates sent to us regarding positions and upcoming votes on the floor so we can have input into their decisioning forcing them to vote the majority while encouraging citizen involvement.

I fully realize that some of this takes time, thought, and careful planning. But I figure we have a Zippo application on the iPhone so why not these?

Comments

[brad]

I like the Voting app. We could do away with many elected officials...the ones that supposedly represent us!