Ubiquitous apps: politics of openness in global mobile cultures

Smartphones are a central element of mobile ubiquity, with mobile applications (‘apps’) becoming especially important. This article discusses the concept of iPhone apps, and other apps, as cultural platforms. Apps are highly significant for emerging cultures of mobile ubiquity, yet these platforms are constituted and controlled by major transnational global mobile media corporations. The article looks at the characteristics, constraints and limits of apps as they have emerged from 2008–2011, arguing that we need to carefully examine the terms of openness as they are constituted at the intersection of such mobile hardware, software and content. Finally, it offers a critique of apps, suggesting it is time to reconceive our ideas about apps and mobile Internet generally.