The boom of software applications (apps) for smart telephones, tablet computers, and social-media giant Facebook has created almost 500,000 jobs in the United States since 2007, according to a study published Tuesday. The study by TechNet, an organization of top technology executives, found that the “App Economy” employs 466,000 people in the United States. “The incredibly rapid rise of smart phones, tablets, and social media, and the applications-apps-that run on them, is perhaps the biggest economic and technological phenomenon today,” the study said. “Almost a million apps have been created for the iPhone, iPad, and Android alone,” the report said, referring to Apple's smart telephone, its market-leading tablet computer, and the competing operating system created by Google. “On an economic level, each app represents jobs-for programmers, for user-interface designers, for marketers, for managers, for support staff,” the study said. The rise of the App Economy “demonstrates that we can quickly create economic value and jobs through cutting-edge innovation,” said TechNet chief executive Rey Ramsey. “Today, the App Economy is creating jobs in every part of America, employing hundreds of thousands of U.S. workers today and even more in the years to come.”
