Using smart phone or tablet, you can surf the web, read a
review about a restaurant in the town you’re visiting, send an email, find out
how your friends halfway across the globe are doing, and post a blog. Some of
that technology is old-school now (a lot of people are so busy texting they
don’t have time to check their email). However, if you have already updated
your status on Facebook and caught up with your Facebook friends today, and still
have some time on your hands, you might want to check out some of these new
horticultural apps.
According to a person who considers himself and “App Hunter”
who specifically looks for free Ag and Hort apps, there are at least 120 that
fit into that category. If you do a Google search for Horticulture Apps, you
will pull up a list of sites that claim to list the “top ten” apps.
The New
York Times posted an article earlier this year with their top ten picks. They
include the app that helps you design a garden (Garden Tracker for IPad and
IPhone), and a landscaper’s companion app that can be used by either apple or
android products. I haven’t used this
one yet, but I expect I will be checking it out, since it includes images of
and information about approximately 20,000 trees, shrubs, annuals, perennials,
vegetables, and herbs.
You can also go to your app store to see what they offer. A
recent search in the Google Play Store for Apps turned up at least 50 gardening
related apps. Form gardening secret tips, to horticulture news, to gardening
games. Prices range from free to $24.99. There’s an app for warning you when
there’s danger of frost, and another to tell you what’s in bloom at the
world-class Kew Gardens in London.
Not so very long ago, organizations poured resources into
website development. There are continuing costs for upkeep and maintenance. For
apps, this includes a need to upgrade to ensure the apps work on new platforms
that come along.
According to the lead developer of the apps “IPMLite” and “IPMPro”,
costs for developing a basic, simple APP, (such as calculators to perform
specific formulas, etc.) are around $1,000 to $4,000. A database-driven APP,
such as the one she helped develop can run anywhere from $8,000 to $50,000. For
reference, Angry Birds cost somewhere around $125,000 to $180,000. Is it a lucrative
revenue stream? That remains to be seen for many agricultural and horticultural
apps. Angry Birds has reportedly made $50 million in revenue.
I wonder if apps will replace books, and even websites for
certain kinds of information in the future?
