My Ten iOS Apps

Responding to Engadget’s editorial that the new Nokia N9 phone is dead on arrival because of its MeeGo platform, David Heinemeier Hansson wrote: 

The pattern I’ve seen for many people new to iOS is a rush to try a bunch of apps and then never use most of them again. There’s a large market for people who just want the core ten apps executed even better. I’d be happy to trade my iPhone for a N9, if that core experience was stronger.

Although most people do exactly what DHH wrote after they purchase their smart phones, most people don’t think that way before they make the purchase. There are many factors that influence our purchasing decisions, including those outside of common sense — that’s why Apple has been so successful making advertisements that appeal to our emotions. One of the reasons I bought my iPhone is the large support the platform gets from the ecosystem (developers, retailers, etc.), which gives me a sense of security that the platform will last.   

Having said that, going back to the “core ten apps” that DHH mentioned, mine are the following (alphabetically ordered):

1. Camera+
2. Evernote
3. Facebook
4. Feedly
5. Foursquare
6. GoTasks
7. HackerNews
8. Momento
9. ReadItLater
10. Twitter