KEEP it simple.

That's what Apple had done with the task of adding new programs to a smartphone.

How easy? To quote my seven-old-son: "Duh!"

That was his succinct response when I asked him did he know to download and install apps to my wife's two week old iPhone 3GS.

Apps. That's a word that Apple has helped in popularising. It's a snappy handle for what is called a program or software application.

While writing a story on smartphone apps, I was downloading and testing apps.

Now, let it be known – I am not an Apple fan. I don't even own a single Apple product.

I have been using Microsoft's Window Mobile devices since the OS was called Pocket PC.

That was when phones were just for making calls.

For computing power on the go, you would get a PDA (Personal Data Assistant). The merger of the two – into the smartphone – is bucking the trend in worldwide phone sales.

Smartphones are hot items and they are no longer the preserve of the geek.

One of Apple's masterstrokes is a small icon, just one out of the 20 icons that greet you when you switch on the phone.

Dubbed simply App Store, behind it lies an online library of more than 85,000 apps and container-loads of designer smarts to make the process as simple as making a phone call.

No need to look elsewhere – all Apple-approved apps in the App Store.

Once you have found an app, all it takes is two taps on the app price button – it can be free or a price in US dollars is given – and the app is zipped through the air into your phone. It will quietly install itself and sit there until you want it.

It couldn't be simpler. Apple could make it a single screen tap but that would mean that you could be downloading a hundred dollar app just like that.

Google's app store – the Android Market – comes close in convenience. It is almost as beckoning as the App Store – cheerful and well formated for the phone screen.

Like in the iPhone, Android app downloads are fuss-free.

I like that I can also browse through popular apps on my PC at android.com/market. It's a pity that searches can't be made there but only on an Android phone like the HTC Hero.

The download of an app is just too busy a process. There is an information overload with progress bars and windows that inform me about loading and connecting. Do I need to know all these?

But it was Nokia's website – store.ovi.com – that I enjoyed using the most for its openness. No need for me to open an account like with the iPhone. And all the apps are shown unlike the Android Market website.

But the Ovi search engine needs an overhaul though. A search using the keyword, Singapore, yielded only one app – The Straits Times.

Which reminds me – don't forget to pick up your copy of the paper tomorrow – there will be stories in Digital Life about phone apps. And a list of free apps designed for Singaporeans.

There is something that American jazz bassist Charles Mingus once said that phone makers should heed.

"Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity."

Read more in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times.