I seem to be in a 'unusual' scenario, I say unusual because I have no real use for mobile apps. When I am out and away from my computer the last thing I want to do is play games or use some app simply because it seems quite pointless and doesn't make my life any easier, as it makes no sense to use 'apps' outside. I am going to remove games from this problem altogether as I don't even like games on desktops anymore and never even liked oldschool games like snake and stuff.

I don't use social networking simply because my life is very static and it would result in a lot of pointless posts over and over, either about what I eat or what the cat did. Even when I did use FB I NEVER wanted to use it outside work, FB was really that thing I would go on to pass time when I was bored at work, but I never did that on a phone.

I use my phone to call, send / check e-mails and my schedule, I use an actual camera to take pictures if I need to, phone cameras are quite terrible, before iPhones or whatever came out this was also the case and equally I had no purpose or desire for apps. I am usually good at putting myself in other peoples shoes, very good I would say but I cant seem to understand why mobile apps would be popular, the way I see it, I think of apps being good when travelling away from home, or useful when 'waiting' for something. I had a look at some apps that were popular and I have to say I didn't find any use to them, even things like maps were somewhat pointless to me as I have sat nav.

Sadly this is a large market (although as days go by I am starting to feel it is smaller than it seems) and I feel I am going to have to 'get' it. I feel I am not alone in this situation either, however my life is very commercial orientated and if I ever used an app to communicate instead of a call I would probably get laughed at.

I had a look at http://www.appstoreapps.com/most-popular-apps/ to see whats popular, so far I have looked in many lists and yet to come across even one app that remotely made me interested. Now I originally thought the problem was that I had a windows phone and not an iPhone or an Android, but assuming that site is sincere, I think it is safe to say I would feel like this regardless of device.

Ok so my questions are, am I alone in feeling like this and if so what am I not getting?

I should mention I do all my work and stuff on a desktop / workstation and when travelling abroad a laptop, simply because I need a big screen and a 'real' full keyboard.

Mobile devices have always been roughly 10 years behind desktop devices. This was true even back in the late 90's. Just about anything that was commonly done back in 2004 can be done on a mobile device today.

What do you do on your computer? You don't play games (desktop or mobile), you don't use social networking. You do surf the web, and you use business apps.

You don't play games, so that's a huge block of things gone. You don't have a social network, so no need for apps or texting or email. You don't watch videos, so no need for entertainment software.

You talk about having a nav system in your car so you don't want to use mobile devices. When was the last time your maps were updated? Map apps are continually updated so you won't need to worry about getting lost in that new subdivision. Also mobile maps frequently include real-time traffic information and will reroute around congestion. Some cities like the Bay area's 511 Traffic even reroutes you for predicted slowdowns, not just the ones currently in progress.

There is mobile commerce (see something, scan it, either get coupons or get the best prices online), mobile payment (swipe your phone instead of a card), and location-based services like FourSquare and Latitude.

You mentioned photography, do you have a model release form? There are apps for that.

As far as your laptop goes, I'm guessing my Transformer tablet with a 10" screen, keyboard, laptop-style touchpad with a 3-button bar, that measures a half inch thick is probably considerably smaller and lighter than your laptop. I use it for more than the things listed above. I can VPN and run remote desktop, and my list of Windows remote desktop machines currently has 15 machines. I can also run it as an X server if I want to connect to Linux or *nix based machines. So the few things it doesn't do native I can connect to a desktop and run remote.

The whole concept of computing has changed over the last decade.

In the past, computing was something you did externally. You went to a computer and did some work. You went to a game console and played games. Technology was parallel with our lives.

Today computing augments whatever you are doing. When you travel you can augment it with maps and traffic reports. When you communicate you can augment it with instant turnaround. When you are bored you can entertain yourself. The technology is intertwined with life.

I despise Facebook--think it's one of the worst creations in human history--practically does nothing but breed negativity, unnecessary drama, and people becoming tougher than 9 gods via internet.

That said, I use it excessively to pass free-time that would be better spent elsewhere because the other 9 billion people in the world are so infatuated with it that it's nearly the only way to communicate with them...

I don't use many mobile apps because very few of them I find useful.

--The Weather Channel app, I check every morning, used to check periodically during my time working in construction, and use to determine whether I want to hunt and/or which tree stand to use.

--Mobile Banking app to manage both my accounts.

--Spotify because I like music, and think it's better than Pandora.

I've also got 4 mobile games.

--Minecraft (For my sons)

--Survivalcraft (A much more realistic-survivalist version that I personally enjoy playing.

--Block Fortress(A hybrid between Minecraft/Tower Defense/FPS that I haven't played in months, but always say I'm going to)

--Goofy Cubes(To test for a fellow GameDev member.)

Now, with that said, I would play more mobile games, I just don't think many are worth the time/money. I'm not much of a casual gamer, I like in-depth games that I can play for hours if I choose to--RTS, RPG, FPS, Free-roam, etc.. These are much more enjoyable on a non-mobile medium. (Plus with my little 5GB iPhone4, not a lot of the games I'd like to play will run or fit without having to worry about space management. lol

Woah, someone actually using a telephone to do phone calls...you're a dinosaur. Welcome to my world.

Hmm I am starting to get the idea that I am either living a very boring life or just use to living life before the mobile app wars began, with me my decisions for leaving the house are made at home and I guess I have just come late to the mobile world, I mean I have been without a mobile for almost 6 years and despite being in A LOT of messy situations I managed to survive without a phone altogether, even sometimes without a car.

I think the problem I am faced with, if I cant picture myself using apps or playing I cant physically work on a app and I feel this is something I am going to have to take advantage of for the obvious reasons. For me it is very important to understand not what people use but why and when, I guess I am just unsure on the market. Eitherway based on comments here, would you say games is really where the app market is more saturated? and are we talking more 'simple' games, like I dunno bejewelled or tetris or something? Things to pass time with rather than 'master'?

I often use my phone to find something over the sat-nav

I like to watch the pro Starcraft leagues

When I need to catch a train,

Sure, dedicated tools like DSLRs and alarm clocks are great to have, but its still handy to have an inferior pocket version, especially if it's integrated into something you're already carrying anyway.

I scanned a QR-code once ;)

1) I do use the Map, and some default tools that come on my phone, I didn't include those (camera, light, alarm)

2) I would rather just watch my favorite sport, lol

3) I don't use public transportation, so this doesn't paply.

4) I agree.

5) So did I! Literally like one time...

Woah, someone actually using a telephone to do phone calls...you're a dinosaur. Welcome to my world.

I completely agree... I swear to God, they could make the iPhone6 without a "Phone" function, and 90% of the world wouldn't figure it out (and probably 50-66% of those wouldn't grasp the fact that it's no longer a "phone")... Until one of the other 10% made a Facebook post about it, then everyone would take to Facebook in order to complain and bitch together in one big rally.

would you say games is really where the app market is more saturated? and are we talking more 'simple' games, like I dunno bejewelled or tetris or something? Things to pass time with rather than 'master'?

Absolutely the biggest concentration of app store applications are games. And yes, "simple" (aka, "casual") games are the huge market here. Most people don't want to stare at a 5" screen for hours on end. They want a game (like people have said above) that they can play while waiting in the airport or in the check-out aisle then put it away for later. Candy Crush is the hugest example of this. Then you've got a lot of "trading card" style games or what-have-you where you click a button to do a mission, and the game randomly generates whether you passed/failed and/or got your items. Each mission takes stamina away at increasing amounts, then you have to wait for hours while it regenerates.

Like I said, casual games, just to pass spare moments. (Unless you hit the Candy Crush jackpot and the world becomes so infatuated they start churches dedicated to you.)