The most famous feature of smartphones is their ability to make and receive calls. What is less known is that they can do a lot more: store music, store movies, and run applications.
Applications (apps) are small software programs that provide added utility to the user; for example, an app might allow you to call someone on your smartphone using your voice. Rather than your fingers or it could simply show the weather forecast.
The creation of apps has given rise to new business models such as in-app purchases. For example, you buy extra features in a photo editing program and ad-supported free downloads (‘freemium’ apps).
The simplicity of Creating Apps
The simplicity of creating apps and the ease with which they can be distributed has resulted in a huge number. Apple alone has over 300,000 available for its iOS operating system. App stores are now an integral part of the smartphone experience and many people visit them on a daily basis.
Interesting About Creating Apps
What is particularly interesting about apps is that they can be used as a vehicle to bring about social change. For example, some mobile operators have developed applications that allow people without web access to call each other. Mobile money services also typically provide an app that functions as an interface. Between the phone and the service provider’s servers.
These types of applications make smartphones unique compared with more traditional ways. Accessing information such as radios or computers without web access since the user is interacting. These devices are through an application rather than through a browser. The applications are small, easily installed and the majority of them are free (or ‘freemium’).
It is possible to combine multiple applications and thereby increase their social impact. Adding decentralized peer-to-peer communication technology to the smartphone. The network being able to send messages directly for free between themselves and would avoid expensive SMS fees.
This article will investigate how such a system could be created and presents some ideas. What it might look like and what its opportunities and challenges might be.
Bitcoin App System
The basis of such a system already exists Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a digital currency that aims to work without any central authority or banks. Just like mobile money services do.
Although it is not designed to function on mobile phones, the bitcoin library has been created. This allows mobile app developers to build apps that use Bitcoin in this way.
This library will be used as part of an application combined with telephony software. Which will allow users to send bitcoins. Over the phone network without having to pay for SMS messages (since no one owns or controls the Bitcoin network).
The main features of such a system are described below. Many people in developing countries already have smartphones and these devices. Additional utility by allowing them to trade digital currency locally with other peers on their networks.
Rapid Growth in Smartphone
Given the current rapid growth in smartphone adoption across many markets in Africa. Asia, and Latin America, there is likely strong demand for this type of service.
The way this would work is as follows. User A wants to transmit bitcoins to user B who also has a mobile phone with the relevant application installed. The phones are connected through their mobile networks and run the app. Which enables them to send each other messages directly over these networks without any additional high-level protocols such as SMS.
This messaging system will be used for sending money in the form of shortcodes just like banks. Currently, use for transferring funds using Mpesa or MTN Mobile Money when sending bitcoin. It will go into an electronic ‘wallet’ on users’ smartphones (which could be implemented in various ways.
Custom Application
By installing a custom application or by using software provided by an existing service). Here we shall refer to this as X since it is decentralized and there is no longer. No need for a central authority. (E.g., like M-Pesa which runs on top of the existing mobile money infrastructure).
Customer A enters customer B’s ‘short code’ (this could be something like 075XXXXXXX) and how much they want to send. They will then type in their own number and an optional message before pressing ‘send’. The messaging system can also support delivery status notifications. Early cancellation and other features that SMS supports such as group chat.
Since these messages will be transmitted over the peer-to-peer network, both parties will receive the message immediately without any intermediary. Sending funds by phone costs the sender money (on some systems it is possible to avoid this, but not easily).
Using Bitcoin
Since this system would allow users to send funds directly to other phones on the network over the internet using Bitcoin. SMS fees can be avoided. The funds would then be transferred into X where they could either be kept. These wallets or sent elsewhere for storage if so desired.
The number of smartphones with internet connectivity is quickly increasing around the world and it is possible that many people will eventually use them. Instead of traditional bank accounts since transactions are much cheaper than those involving banks due to their decentralized nature.
If bitcoins gain wide acceptance as a currency, sending small amounts (e.g., for micro-payments) may become more popular because it does not incur large fees. This would help to widen Bitcoin’s penetration into everyday transactions and allow users of mobile phones to trade bitcoins easily with each other over the traditional phone networks.
Bitcoin – Electronic Money
Bitcoin is a kind of electronic money that can be sent from one user directly to another without going through a financial institution such as a bank or credit card provider. It does not have any physical form like coins or notes but instead exists purely in electronic form. This means it can be sent from one person to another using online forums on the internet without needing their name, address, or other personal details. There is no central authority responsible for managing Bitcoin.
Instead, transactions are handled collectively by the network which ensures they remain secure while being completely transparent regarding their nature and who is sending them. This is achieved through the use of public-key cryptography which allows users to send or receive money in a secure way without revealing their identity.
As well as being digital, bitcoins are also considered to be ‘decentralized’ because there is no central authority that manages them. The system on which they exist is peer-to-peer meaning all transactions take place between users directly instead of going through a governing body.
Virtual Coins
Since Bitcoin was introduced in 2009, its value has risen rapidly and some have even compared its growth to the early days of the internet since it has great potential for wide usage if so desired. There are currently around 11 million virtual coins in circulation with an estimated value of more than $1 billion and this could increase significantly if their popularity continues to grow.
The system is completely open-source which means its code can be viewed and modified by anybody who wishes to do so. The currency operates on a ‘block chain’ which contains every transaction ever made in chronological order so people can see how much money has been sent from one person or organization to another.
However, the identities of those behind transactions are not revealed because all that is visible are encrypted codes rather than names or addresses. This prevents people from spending bitcoins twice but still allows them to easily receive payments since they are always linked only to an address consisting of letters and numbers without any specific identity attached.
It also makes it impossible for anyone to block or take back funds once they have been sent since this would require controlling more than half of the entire network.
History of All Transactions
The history of all transactions is stored within what is known as ‘blocks’ and they must be unlocked before being used to ensure the correct information is added to them. This process of solving a difficult mathematical problem in order to add a block of data onto a public ledger is known as ‘mining’ and miners use specialized computer programs for this purpose.
People who want bitcoins can acquire them by buying them either directly from another individual or by mining themselves with regular computer hardware. However, this requires considerable technical expertise which most people lack and therefore restricts their access to bitcoin.
