Too Many Apps

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My favorite line from one of my favorite movies is "too many notes" from Amadeus. In case you missed it, it's the King's reaction to Mozert after debuting one of his ingenious compositions.

After praising Mozert, he segues to that excruciating word; but! The "but" being that the composition just had more notes than the human ear can handle.

The King was obviously a buffoon. Here's that word again; but! But, who couldn't relate at least just a little bit to his feelings of being overwhelmed. Too much of even a good thing is still, well, too much.

I am starting to feel more than just a little like the King in Amadeus when it comes to all of these apps. iPhone apps. Facebook apps. Twitter apps. Google apps. App 2.0 is just a little too App-happy.

Just last week, the iPhone app store added its 30,000th application. Some eight months ago, their app store opened with 500.

If you cruise the other technology blogs, you will likely become buried in postings like "27 Twitter Applications Your Small Business Could Use" , "10 Must-see Finance Apps for the iPhone" or I really like this one; "23 Apps Were Still Using a Month Later".

I'm serious. I really do like that last one. It at least has a more sober, practical approach.

It's not enough to check out a new application and a) see if it works and b) does something fun or useful. The word "useful" is the slippery slope in that criteria.

Being "useful" is more than doing something functional. It's not useful, if you don't need it. An application is meant to be a tool (I'm excluding entertainment apps); a tool that helps perform a task better or faster that you already have to do. A tool that helps you do something you never had to worry about before is truly not a tool. It's a time suck.

Be judicious before you hit the "download" button.

Renee Oricchio

Renee Oricchio is a technology writer and former supervising news producer for CNN Financial News. She has been covering the computer industry since 1987.