Finding meaning by digging through cyber history

The question of where to start has plagued me these past few days. The first and seemingly easiest thought is to ask "What is the "app"? followed by "what is the history / origins of the "App"? When did this term get coined? ..etc etc. Sounds simple enough, nothing a quick google search query of "App" cant do to get the shovels digging. Right? Not exactly.

With a topic such as "the app" which is as ubiquitous in our every day contemporary lexicon as "dot com" was at the peak of the internet bubble, it is difficult to find relevant search query by simply typing in "app" into a google search. Similarly because the term "app" has only existed since slightly after the release of Apples "iPhone" during the summer of 2007, it is a term that is almost exclusively limited to online, and tech computer savvy literary publication sources. What your simple google search for "App" turns up is a myriad of articles having everything and nothing to do with our intended query.

A google search query of "App" returned "About 1,880,000,000 results (0.17 seconds)" Among which, after the first four paid query's the search returned the Association of Professional Piercers, The Asia Pulp & Paper Co. which happens to be

Canada's largest producer of paper, as well as Molson Dry – Association des pros du party (APP). Clearly the parameters of the search must be narrowed for anything fruitful to show up.

What did come up was Wikipedia's entry page for "App" which is a start. Wikipedia has two relevant pages for our topic, one on "APP (file format) "and the other on "Application Software" or "app" for short. Half way down the page for application software you run across a link to something called "mobile application development." Most of the page deals with application software relating to a traditional computer, but “mobile” caught my attention. Clicking on that link takes you down a rabbit hole of tech geek lingo. What is interesting here are the various types of “developing environments” upon which mobile “Apps” can be developed. At the current date of viewing the wikipedia lists over 50 different types of developing environments that span across mobile platforms from Android to IOS, Palm to Blackberry. These developing environments we will come back to later on in our research, but for now for better understanding what “Apps” are we need to continue our search.