Travel planning: Got your app on?

Experts initially thought business travelers would use travel applications on their phones for last-minute emergencies. Instead, apps are used for everything, from planning to navigation in real time.

“Increasingly, we’ll see people rely on apps in the way they previously relied on maps, guidebooks and indeed personal assistants, booking flights and hotels—all those things suddenly merged down into a mobile phone,” says Tom Dunmore of the app-review website Life of Android.

Because they are location-sensitive, easy to use and constantly connected, apps may be the next big thing on the web.

A study by Forrester Research forecasts that companies will spend up to $17 billion over the next four years creating apps for their products. And pretty much anyone can sign up to be an app developer by paying Apple $99 a year and using its developer resources, then hawking their apps all over the world.

— Adapted from “Goodbye maps, hello apps: Planning travel on the go,” Ayesha Durgahee, CNN.