This document summarizes several mobile applications related to accessing digital content on Apple devices. It discusses the Kindle app which allows iPhone and iPod Touch users to read Kindle ebooks and periodicals. It also describes the Questia Library app which provides access to Questia's collection of books, journals and articles. Finally, it mentions the arXiview app which enables browsing recent submissions to the arXiv preprint repository. All three apps help expand the capabilities of Apple mobile devices for accessing digital reading materials and scholarly resources.

1. LIBRARY MOBILE
-----------------
'A' Is for
'Apple'
and 'App'
Application. A computer program or the set of
software that the end user perceives as a single
entity as a tool for a well-defined purpose. (Also
called: application program; application software.)
The iPhone application VR+ connects to major
social networks.
-http://en.wiktionary.orglwiki/app/ication#Noun
As characterized byWikipedia, "[A] smartphone is a mobile
phone offering advanced capabilities, often with PC-like
functionality ... ; it is a miniature computer that has phone capa-
bility" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone]. "The iPhone
is a line of Internet- and multimedia-enabled smartphones
designed and marketed by Apple Inc. [that] ... functions as a
camera phone ..., a portable media player ..., and an Internet
client, with e-mail, web browsing, andWi-Fi connectivity ...." In
addition, it enables text messaging and visual voicemail. The
first generation iPhone model was introduced in late June 2007;
the iPhone 3G, an enhanced version that supports faster 3G data
speeds and an assisted GPS (Global Positioning System) was
introduced in July 2008. The most recent model, the iPhone 3GS
has improved performance, a high-resolution camera with video
capability, and voice control; it was announced and released in
mid-June 2009 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone).
In 2009, nearly 25 million iPhones were sold, giving Apple a
14.4%share ofthe worldwide smartphone market, placing it third
32 SEARCHER • The Magazine for Database Professionals
Gerald McKiernan
Associate Professor/Science and Technology Librarian
Iowa State University Library
in global sales behind Nokia and Samsung [http://www.gartner.
com/it/page.jsp?id=1306513). It is projected that at least 36 mil-
lion iPhone units will be sold this year and 48.5 million units in
2011 [http://www.appJeinsider.com/articles/10/01/06/piper_
15_8m_us_iphone_sales_in_20lO_even_withouCverizon.html).
Launched early in September 2007, the iPod touch "is a
portable media player, personal digital assistant, and Wi-Fi
mobile platform designed and marketed by Apple Inc. ...with
wireless access to the iTunes Store .. . and ... to Apple's App Store,
enabling content to be purchased and downloaded directly on
the device. ..."The second-generation iPod touch was unveiled
a year later and featured "external volume controls, a built-in
speaker, a contoured back, built-in Nike+, Bluetooth support,
and the ability to connect a microphone ...."The late 2009 iPod
touch, released in September, uses the iPhone as 3.1 operating
system and is available with 8, 32, or 64GB of flash memory. The
32- and 64GB versions include the same microprocessors, graph-
ics engine, and RAM as the iPhone 3GS, as well as voice control,

2. a remote, and a microphone, among other functionalities and
accessories [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod_touchl [http:1 1
www.apple.com/ipodtouch/what-islipod.htrnll.
By the end of2009, an estimated 32.5million iPod touch units
were sold, doubling sales through June 31, 2009, and signifi-
cantly outselling iPhone in that fiscal quarter [http://theapple
blog.com/2010101/281ipod-touch-now-outselling-iphonel.
One analyst estimatedthat iPod touch sales would exceed those
for iPhone for the first time bythe end ofthe first quarter of2010
[http://brainstormtech .blogsJortune.cnn.com/2010/01l081
how-many-ipods-did-apple-selll.
According to the market research flIm Gartner, Inc. [http:1 1
www.gartner.com].in 2009, Apple Computer, Inc. accountedfor
more than 99% of all mobile app sales as well as those made
available free of charge. In that year alone, iPhone users down-
loaded 2.5 billion apps from Apple App Stores [http://www.
apple.com/iphonelapps-for-iphonel. TbeApp Store reached the
1 billion download mark in April 2009 and the 2 billion mark in
November 2009; in early January 2010, the total reached 3 bil-
lion [http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10424973-37.html].
Based on Gartner's estimates and other analysis, Apple will
control at least two-thirds of the mobile app market, with more
than 4.5 billion apps expected to be downloaded by the end of
2010. Free downloads will account for 82% of all downloads in
2010 and for 87% of the estimated 21.6 downloads in 2013
[http://www.gartner.com/itlpage.jsp?id=1282413l.
The recent introduction ofthe iPad [http://www.apple.com/
ipadl, theApple tablet computerannounced in late January2010,
is expected to increase Apple's share of the mobile app market
[http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/01/apple-responsi
ble-for-994-of-mobile-app-sales-in-2009.arsl. The iPad device
itselfsold 1million units in its first 28 days. For most ofthat time
only the iPad Wi-Pi version was available, with the iPad 3G ver-
sion not available until the end ofApril.
The App Store
The Apple App Store [http://www.apple.com/iphone/app
storel "is a service for the iPhone,iPod touch and iPad created by
Apple Inc. which allows users to browse and download applica-
tions from the iTunes Store that were developed with the iPhone
SDK" (Software Development Kit) and published through Apple.
In January 2010, it offered more than 100,000 free and pajd apps
for the iPhone and iPod touch models [http://www.apple.com/
ipodlcompare-ipod-modelsJ [http://news.cnet.com/8301-135
79_3-10424973-37.htmll. As of mid-March 2010, there were
nearly 195,000 App Store apps, created by more than 32,000
www.Jnlotoday.comfsearcher
" f<- L MOBILE
unique publishers. On an average day, more than 680 apps are
submitted for review and approval [http://148apps.biz/app-
store-metrics].
From the App Store, customers from more than 75 countries
can select apps from 20 categories, notably games, business,
news, sports, health, reference, travel, etc. [http://www.apple.
com/pr/library/2010/01 105appstore.htrnlj.In mid-March 2010,
the most popular app categories were Books (28,705 active),
Games (24,551 active), Entertainment (20,656 active), Education
(11,056 active), and Utilities (9,788 active) [http://148apps.biz/
app-store-memcs] .
Since its establishment, a number of websites have emerged
to assist potential users and buyers in assessing approved apps in
the App Store. Founded in early 2009, the AppStore HQ [http:1 1
www.appstorehq.coml.is "the leading independent search and
discovery platform for iPhone applications." To identify the lat-
est, most noteworthy newiPhone apps, the "AppStoreHQ searches
through thousands ofblogandTwitter posts dailyto iPhone apps,"
scoring each mention based on the authority ofthe source, recal-
culating its app rankings several times a day in order to provide
the most accurate and timely social app rankings [http://www.
appstorehq.comlmedia-resources).
- -iPhone
Your iPhone gets better
with every new app.
ApplIClIIOfJ. 'or rPhofIt IIf Ale, nottt't9 you've ''o'er set" on ~
mobil, phonf' Explote IoOmt 01 our fJVOOtt lPP' nul. 'lId ~~I
"IO¥o'lMy &/1_ IPhone 10 do ~" mort
Apps for Everything
.... .............
Apps IOf Apps lor Appslo< Appslo<
CDoks ICHping Current tho Gte.. OUtdoors Musk
" -
Browse Staff Picks
June 2010 33

3. _ BRAqy' MOBILE
--- - - - - - - - - -
From the AppStoreHQ homepage, users can not only browse
the most recent Hottest iPhone Apps on the Web and Hottest
iPhone Apps on Twitter, but can also review the Best iPhone
Apps, Free iPhone Apps, and the Best iPhone Games, as well. In
addition, one can browse by category (e.g., books, education,
reference). Users can also search for specific apps in all cate-
gories or limit the search to more than 2 dozen categories. From
within a category (e.g., books), one can also browse ranked apps
by price tiers, rating, or release date.
In mid-March 2010, Panelfly Comics, AChristmas Carol, and
Epoch 01: Monkey and the Moon Patrol were representative
apps in the Books category, while in the Education category, 300
Essential SATVocabularyWords, Musee du Louvre, and Nursing
Exam Lite were among the most highly rated apps.In Reference,
Baby Name Wizard: The World Baby Name Book, Jumble Solvr,
and Beer Me LITE fell into tills category. In the Games category,
Doodle Bowling, Paper Toss, and The Graveyard Lite were rep-
resentative apps. The general themes ofCBS Sports NCAA March
Madness On Demand LITE, ESPN 2010 World Cup, and Tee-
ToGreen Golf Pebble Beach were typical of the Sports apps. In
Travel, Hotel Navigator, Lonely Planet Travel Guides, and Miller
Lite TaxiFinder were representative.
While some consider many apps as trivial or ofvery limited
personal and professional value, an increasing number ofapps
have been developed to facilitate access to significant and sub-
stantive educational, informational, and research resources
and sources.
Books
Kindle for the iPhone
Amazon Kindle [http://Amazon.com/Kindle] "is a software
and hardware platform developed by Amazon.com .. . for ren-
dering and displaying e-books and other digital media." As of
March 2010, three hardware models - Kindle (November 2007),
Kindle 2 (February2009) and Kindle DX (June 2009) - were avail-
able. An international version ofthe Kindle 2 with a built-in (high-
speed) wireless modem became available in mid-October 2009,
offering connectivity in more than 100 countries. Each model lets
users download the full text of books, magazines, newspapers,
and blogs from Amazon.com via Whispernet, the free Amazon
cellular network, as well as from other content providers [http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Kindle#Content].
As of mid May 2010, more than 500,000 publications were
available from the Kindle Store alone. Book genres available for
the Kindle encompass fiction, nonfiction, business and invest-
34 SEARCHER • The Magazine for Oalabase Professionals
ing, children's chapter books. computers and internet. politics
and current events. reference. religion and spirituality. science.
sports. textbooks. and travel. In addition. access to select
national and international newspapers is also available, most
notably the Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Denver Post, Hous-
ton Chronicle, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The
Wall Street]ournal.Washington Post.Financial Times, Le Monde,
Shanghai Daily. International Herald Tribune, and The Times
(London). The Atlantic, Forbes, Newsweek. The New Yorker, The
Economist, and U.S. News & World Report are among a select
group of national and international magazines also available
[http://www.amazon.com/kindle-store-ebooks-newspapers-
blogs/b?ie=UTF8&node=133141011J.
Users can also access more than 1.8 million titles from the
InternetArchive [http://www.archive.org/details/texts] and more
than 30,000 titles from Project Gutenberg [http://www.guten
berg.orgJ [http://www.amazon.com/gp/b/?node=2245146011].
When he woke in the woods in
the dark and the cold of the
night he'd reach out to touch
the child sleeping beside him.
Nights dark beyond darkness
and the days more gray each
one than what had gone
before. Like the onset of some
cold glaucoma dimming away
the world. His hand rose and
fell softly with each nr~'l'lrl11
The Kindle app
on the iPhone

4. On March 3, 2009, Amazon.com launched an application
called Kindle for iPhone [http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/
kindle-for-iphonelid302584613?mt=8#] in the i1unes App Store
that allows iPhone and iPod touch users to read Kindle content
on these devices. Through the "Whispersync" technology, "cus-
tomers can synchronize reading progress, bookmarks, and other
information across devices" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Amazon_Kindle]. Though Amazon's Kindle software is propri-
etary, thls move by Amazon freed potential Kindle users from
having to buy the Kindle hardware.
Among many features, the Kindle for iPhone app allows users
to purchase a Kindle publication; read the beginnjngofanybook
free of charge; freely download any Kindle titles previously
bought; adjust the text size and add bookmarks; tap and hold on
a word to create a note or a rughlight; read in portrait or land-
scape mode; and tap on either side of the screen or flick to turn
pages, and pinch to zoom book images [http://itunes.apple.
com/uslappIkindle-for-iphonelid302584613?mt=8#].
Since its initial expansion to iPhone, Amazon has introduced
Kindle options for PCs, Macs, and iPad.
Questia Library
Questia Media [http://www.questiameilia.comJ is "a leading
provider of information and educational resources," providing
one of the "world's largest online collection of complete books,
journals and articles" [http://www.questia.com/aboutQuestia/
about.htmlJ.lts Questia Library "is a powerful research library
covering a vast array ofsubjects in the humanities and social sci-
ences, from history to philosophy and art to economics," offer-
ing access to more than 76,00 complete books, 155,000 journal
articles, 185,000 magazine articles, and 1.1 million newspaper
articles [http://www.questia.com/aboutQuestia/exploreUbrary.
htmlJ. It has input from more than 300 acclaimed humanities
and social science publishers [http://www.questia.com/about
Questialabout.htmlJ.
Questia Ubrary "is organized in an easy-to-use category
structure that can be browsed with efficiency, allowing ... [users)
to quickly drill down to one of6,700 specific research topics ...
or ... search the full text ofall ofthe books and articles, to locate
relevant publications, plus search withln books to locate spe-
cific pages ofinterest" [http://www.questia.com/aboutQuestia/
about.html].
InSeptember2009, Questia Mediareleased QuestiaUbraryfor
the iPhone and iPod touch, an app that enables users to access its
entire collection [http://smartmobiletoday.com/?p=243].The app
is available from the App Store in iTImes for 99 cents, giving users
www.lnfoloday.comlsearcher
I ~RAF-< MOBILE
permanent access to 5,000 public domain books and 1 week of
access to every publication in Questia Library. After 1week, users
may purchase additional access to the full library through iTImes
on a nonrecurring basis.With the iPhone app, currentQuestia sub-
scribers can have free mobile access to their previously selected
content for as long as a subscription is active [http://itunes.apple.
coml uslappI questia-libraryI id331637962?mt=8#J.
AQuestia account is also accessible online, where users can
create project folders to manage and store their work. At ques-
tia.com, users can quote and cite publications, create automatic
bibliograprues, bookmark pages, add items to one's bookshelf,
take iligital notes, and make/view highlights. Within the Ques-
tia Library application, one not only has mobile access to the
entire Questia collection, but can also bookmark pages, add
items to his or her bookshelf, and view the rughlights created at
questia.com [http://www.questia.com/questialibraryplusJ.
Databases
arXiview
Designed by Dave Bacon, a theoretical physicist at the Uni-
versity ofWashington, arXiview [http://dabacon.org/arxiviewJ
is an iPhone application billed as "a very easyway to surfthe last
few weeks of arXiv" [http://arxiv.org/postingsJ. Developed by
Paul Ginsparg, then of the Los Alamos National Laboratory and
now of Cornell University, arXiv.org provides open access to
more than 592,000 (03-13-201) eprints in physics, mathematics,
computer science, quantitative biology, quantitative finance,
and statistics [http:/ I arxiv.orgJ.
The features and functionalities ofarXiview include the abil-
ity to do the follOwing:
• Browse arXiv categories by date.
• Keep up to date not just on the latest day's posting, but
postings from the last week or any date desired.
• Search the arXiv by author, title, full text, with and with-
out restrictions to specific categories of the arXiv.
• Save preprints to one's iPhone for later, offline browsing.
• Organize offline readings in self-named folders.
• Emailoneselfor others preprint information for later ref-
erence.
• Read PDFs in both landscape and portrait mode.
• Arrange arXiv categories and subcategories in any order
of preference for quick access.
-http://physicsworld.com/blog/2009/04/
researchJeuolution_in_the-pal.html
Juno 2010 35

5. L BRAH ( MOBILE
iSSRN (Social Science Research Network)
iSSRN [http://tinyurl.com/y9v4gcaJ is a free iPhone app that
"provides instant access to the Latest Social Science and Human-
ities research in the SSRN eLibrary from scholars around the
world" [http://www.ssrn.comJ. The Social Science Research Net-
work (SSRN) is "devoted to the rapid worldwide dissemination
ofsocial science research and is composed of a number of spe-
cialized research networks in each of the social sciences" (e.g.,
accounting, economics, information systems, legal, manage-
ment, marketing, and political, among several others).
Each SSRN's network encourages the early distribution of
research results by publishingsubmitted abstracts and by soLic-
Through its nature.com
iPhone application, users can
access science news stories.
iting abstracts of top-quality research papers around the world.
The network now has hundreds of journals, publishers, and
institutions as partners in publishing, providing working papers
for distribution through SSRN's eLibrary and abstracts for pub-
lication in SSRN's electronic journals.
The SSRN eLibrary consists of two parts: an Abstract Data-
base containing abstracts on more than 276,500 scholarly (as of
March 2010) working papers and forthcoming papers and an
Electronic Paper Collection currently containing more than
227,300 downloadable full-text documents in Adobe Acrobat
PDF format. The Library also includes research papers from
a number of fee-based partner publications [http://www.
ssrn.com] [http://ssrnblog.com/2009/ 11I 191 ssrns- iphone-
app-issrn-is-available] [http://scholarship20.blogspot.com/
200S1061social-science-research-network.htmlj.
Journals
iResearch App (American Institute of Physics)
In earlyOctober 2009, the American Institute ofPhysics (AlP),
"one ofthe world's largest publishers ofinformation in the phys-
ical sciences and a leader in the field of electronic publishing,"
announced the launch of its new mobile e-Reader application,
iResearch [http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woal
wa/viewSoftware?id=331339330&mt=S].
36 SEARCHER The Magazine lor Database Professionals
iResearch is "an offline e-reader that enables users to save
PDF files locally to their device and view them offline without a
Wifi or cellular connection. Users navigate through the journals,
the volumes and issues to select an article they wish to read. A
user will be automatically logged in with their institutional IP
Address ifthey are online within a quaJifying address range, or
he/she can enter their username/password to obtain access.
When the PDF has been loaded to the device the user can select
to save the file locally onto the iPhone/iPod Touch. Once the PDF
is saved locally the user can read the article off-line" [http://sci
tation.aip.orgllabsl C3I iresearch.jsp].
The journals available in the iResearch application include
Applied Physics Letters, Biomicrojluidics, Chaos, Journal of
Applied Physics, The Journal of Chemical Physics, Journal of
Mathematical Physics, Journal ofPhysical and Chemical Refer-
ence Data, Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, Low
Temperature Physics, Physics ofFluids, Physics ofPlasmas, and
Review of Scientific Instruments [http://www.aip.org/press_
releaseI iPhoneApp.htrnl].
Nature Publishing Group Mobile iPhone App(s)
The Nature Publishing Group (NPG) [nature.com] is "a pub-
lisher of high impact scientific and medical information in
print and online. [It] ... publishes journals, online databases,
and services across the life, physical, chemical and applied sci-
ences and clinical medicine" [http://www.nature.com/np~/
company_info] .
Through its nature.com iPhone application [http://itunes.
com/apps/naturecomj, users can access science news stories
and the latest published research from Nature Publishing Group
on their iPhone. New articles that are published are pushed
straight to the user's iPhone, where the full text can be read
immediately or saved for later viewing.
The "nature.com app has been designed to make reading sci-
entific content on the iPhone a rewarding experience. A fast,
attractive interface lets ... [one accessj the news and [needed]
research ...."Users can select journal titles of interest or execute
saved searches on nature.com (or PubMed) to retrieve newly
added content. All can skim citations and abstracts on the smart-
phone; nature.com subscribers can subsequently read the full text
of nature.com articles on a desktop or laptop workstation after
saving the search results [http://www.nature.com/mobileappsj.
More to Come
Keep reading this column. When it comes to mobile comput-
ing' this is only the beginning. •

6. COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
TITLE: ’A’ Is for ’Apple’ and ’App’
SOURCE: Searcher 18 no5 Je 2010
The magazine publisher is the copyright holder of this article and it
is reproduced with permission. Further reproduction of this article in
violation of the copyright is prohibited. To contact the publisher:
http://www.infotoday.com