A handheld revolution is sweeping the world with mobile phones helping us to keep clean, keeping us fit and even getting us from point A to B. Apps are beginning to own every part of our lives. When we are in bed they monitor REM cycles, assessing the quality of our sleep. When we are awake, apps such as Fitbit count the number of steps we take in a day, while My 5 K logs our run times.Then there are the homegrown apps that are making it just a bit easier for South Africans. There is Appetite that will deliver food from restaurants to your house.Laundry day blues are a thing of the past since you can wash your clothes from the comfort of your smartphone, by companies such as Washr, OntheMove or Cleanly.Yet editor-in-chief of Hypertext Media Adam Oxford believes we are still lagging behind first-world countries and blames this on the price of data which prevents lower-income individuals from entering the world of apps."You find here the apps that are doing well are those that target the business market," said Oxford, who said an example of this wasdelivery app WumDrop.Oxford said another challenge online businesses faceis the cost of courier services. Often it is easier and cheaper to head to a mall to shop.But the cost of data is dropping, which could result in more people using smartphones and joining the app revolution.Worldwide Worx founder Arthur Goldstuck said the success of most service apps revolves around having a large, ready and engaged audience but because this requires a large number of users with good internet connectivity this does not exist in South Africa.Goldstuck said that, besides the need for the price of data to come down, there also had to be active educational initiatives to inform people of the utilities offered by these apps."There are not too many service apps that succeed in general. The most successful everywhere in the world are social and messaging apps and the same applies in South Africa," said Goldstuck...