Did you wake up Christmas morning and run out to find that Santa left you a small box under the tree?  Well apparently many of you were surprised by Smartphones, Tablets and Pads, or did you just decide to treat yourself.  I know many of you did get mobile devices for Christmas due to the number of emails that started rolling in Christmas morning.

I guess I compare this to a dog chasing a car and finally catching it, what do you do now?  The numbers are in: From Christmas Day 6.8 Million Apple and Android devices were activated and 242 Million apps were downloaded.  I don’t have last years units sold but I did find the number of apps downloaded one year ago, 85 Million, guess that says it all.

For those of you with younger people around you Christmas Morning I am sure “Angry Birds” was one of the first things you downloaded but “can’t make no money with Angry Birds”.  Looking back at the emails one of the most frequently asked questions was” How do I move my contacts to my new device?  That’s easy, in most cases just sync from computer if using Outlook or from Google contacts.  But here is my first red flag, many will just run down to the phone store and have contacts moved from the old phone to the new phone.  That’s living life dangerously because most will not bother backing up contacts by any of the ways offered, either wirelessly or with a cable.  For 12 years I have been harping back up your device, which back in the old days was so important because of crashes.  It’s still important, not because of device crashes, rather lost or stolen devices.

The next most asked question was¨What about electronic lockboxes, how do I get in?  Simple, call your association or MLS and get what you need to make it happen. 

The next question was which apps do I download first?  Let’s see, half a million apps for Apple, 300,000 apps for Android, where do I start.  Where ever you start, take one app at a time, download it, set it up, learn how to use it and enjoy it.  In time you will be looking to add productivity and there are a ton of those to help you.  I guess my short list would be Social Media, QR, Scanner, Flashlight, MLS, Weather, Pandora, Skype, Red Laser and then look for apps that help you with your personal interest.

Get your email set up quickly which is one of the top five benefits of having a Smartphone.  Conquer texting, learn how to use the camera, play with the map/GPS and oh yes figure out how to answer phone.  I meet folks who brag about the number of apps they have downloaded but in conversation many of the apps have never been opened.  I have downloaded countless apps only to decide the app doesn’t help me in my world.  Very easy to delete and look for other apps that can help me.  I just counted of the 100 plus apps I have, there are 15 apps that I can say I use at least once a week, many of them daily.

When you first look at that new Smartphone, Tablet or Pad, please keep in the back of your mind, “How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time”.