Ella Williamson on The Sunday Times List of its 500 Favourite Apps

Last weekend saw the launch of The Sunday Times List of its 500 Favourite Apps - that's according to new research, as well as the opinion of its well-heeled panel of experts. The study shed light on the fact that over half of all smartphone and tablet users believe apps have made their life better, with more than half again using their phone more for apps than any other purpose (emailing, texting or even calling…)

To mark the launch we caught up with TV technology expert Ella Williamson (best known as Gadget Guru for BBC2's Something for The Weekend), on the incredible rise of the app.

As a TV technology expert you must have seen some weird and wonderful gadgets in your time - could you have predicted we would become a nation so obsessed with apps?

Well this year the amount of apps has doubled to around 2 million - I don't think any one could have predicted it, I mean we've now got apps for everything! I think it's brilliant, the things that we would have done very naturally, like call up the cinema, and book a ticket we can now do just completely independently, we can use our Odeon app, we can view the films, see what's coming up, we don't even need to print the ticket. It's amazing.

What's the next step for apps? Can the technology go any further?

I can only say yes, because now we have millions of apps, ten years ago we didn't even know what an app was, we now have software applications running on smart phones and tablets, we have apps for everything from Angry Birds to how to find out about your ancestry with the Ancestry app and we didn't think that was possible - it's phenomenal. I really think anything's possible when it comes to technology.

In terms of the smart phone - do you think there's any real rival to the iPhone for apps?

The android market is fastest growing and I definitely think it's one to watch, I don't think Apple is dominating - I know quite a lot of people do have iPhones, but over half the population have a smartphone and they're certainly not all iPhones - so yes, definitely worth keeping an eye out on the android market, or if you're a Blackberry user, Blackberry app world.

Are we going to use apps more and more in the future to browse our favourite websites - for example Flipboard?

Yes I think so I think it's very savvy for companies with websites to develop an app, because it's just less clicks, isn't it? Especially if you can't quite remember what the url is. It's a lot easier for the owner of the mobile device to access a website, so it makes sense to have an app to access as many as possible, but it has to be a tool for something.

What in your opinion makes a great app?

I think it's quite personal. I think that's why the app list is so great because it show's everything available for your area of interest, so for me I'm not very good at doing make up so there are makeup tips on there, there's a makeup app that's £1.50 and it teaches you what makeup suits you and then there's the sleep talking app - to record your nocturnal mutterings, very useful for my partner! But I think what makes a good app is that it can be time saving, you can do your Christmas shopping without calling a call centre, without going into a store, if you're on a train you can listen to music via Spotify. I think anything that makes your life easier or more efficient is brilliant. 

What's your favourite app? 

I personally love Hipstamatic - it takes such flattering photos!

Are there any traps developers fall into when creating an app?

It can be quite difficult to get your app on the distribution market; my advice to a developer would be swot up on what developers and distribution networks like, or app stores, what they're looking for, it's worth being well informed on that. There are so many agencies out there as well that can advise you if you have an idea. The further we go, the more hoops there are to jump through, particularly with technology as it progresses, so it's good to check in with agencies because they'll be experienced with that. 

With all these apps and gadgets on the market do you think there's a chance we could become too obsessed with technology - at the detriment of everything else?

With apps like this, I very much think you should use them - they should enhance your life rather than fill your time with nonsense, but there is very much a time and place for nonsense! So that could be playing a board game with your family but perhaps your family aren't available, so you might play a bit of scrabble by using the scrabble app, there are also lots of books you can read with e-reading - it's still the same skill, you can go on Ibooks, you can read The Sunday Times on your tablet or your iPhone, so I don't necessarily think our time will become filled with completely different things if you don't want it to be!

Interview by Alice Kahrmann

20 January 2012