After Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone in 2007, the cellphone industry was instantly revolutionized. The iPhone created an entire new industry: the mobile application. The market for smartphone applications is one of the biggest markets in the world. There are currently 750 million smartphone users, and this number is expected to continue to soar. This market is starting to be dominated by Israeli born apps. Here are some apps that I’ve seen on the ground in Israel and are doing great things.

1) iOnRoad- iOnRoad is one of the coolest apps I have ever seen. The app is a real-time driving assistant that warns the driver of oncoming dangers. The app uses the native camera on the phone to analyze the road conditions, and gives you an audio-vision warning when you are in danger. The app has won many competitions and awards such as the CES 2012 innovation award, best augmented reality app of 2011, and one of Gartner’s cool vendors in automobiles for 2012. iOnRoad was founded by Alon Atsmon, who has already led many companies to enormous success.

2)  Alcohoot- Alcohoot is the world’s first ever breathalyzer mobile attachment. In the U.S, nearly 30 people die every day from car crashes involving a drunk driver. The app has awesome features in it: not only does it tell you if you’re above the legal limit or not, it has a “call taxi” option, a “call friend” option (if you’re lucky enough to have a buddy pick you up), and the app uses advanced technology to tell you nearby café’s and restaurants that are open near you. The app is very impressive. It was founded in July, 2012 by Jonathan Ofir and Ben Biron.

3) Waze- Over the past few months, Waze has become extraordinarily popular. The GPS mobile app updates traffic conditions in real time, always giving the user the fastest way to get to his or her destination. The app warns the user before approaching police cars, accidents, or traffic, and even tells the user where the cheapest gas station is! Waze is one of the most successful Israeli mobile apps. Waze was founded by Uri Levine, Amir Shinar and Ehud Shabtai. The company has raised $67 million in three rounds of funding.

4) Parko- Parko is a mobile app that solves the parking problem. The app uses advanced and patent technology that recognizes when the user parks his car. It takes a satellite image of where the car is. When that person comes back to his car, he gets a text asking if he is leaving. When he hits “yes,” the app updates his location, and other people using the app can now go and wait for his spot. Each time you give someone a spot you are incentivized through digital money. Parko just recently launched and was founded by Tomer Neu-Ner, Itai David, and Moran Barda.

5) ScanBizCards- Ever come back from a business convention with pockets full of business cards that end up all over your office and house? ScanBizCards allows users to take a business card, take a picture of it, and the information saves to your phone and is automatically backed up to the cloud. The app has been downloaded by more than 1,000,000 people, and understands 21 languages! ScanBizCard’s was founded in 2009 by Patrick Questembert and Danny Panzer.

6) Tapit- Tapit uses near field connection technology to enable users to tap their phones on a bar code, and instantly transfer content within a second. Rather than being a mobile app, Tapit has contracts with phone companies such as Samsung to put the technology directly into the phone, so the technology is ready to use as soon as it comes out of the box.  Tapit was founded in 2011 by Jamie Conyngham and Andrew Davis.

7) 24me- 24me is an iPhone app (soon to be Android as well) that works as a personal assistant. The app allows users to do anything from paying bills on time to organizing a to-do list. The app even allows users to tell other people what to do! 24me was founded by a married couple. Gilad Hertanu and Liat Mordechay Hertanu founded the company in January of 2012 and the company is based in Israel.

8) Sync.ME- Sync.ME is a mobile app that turns your contact list into a social media updated gallery. The app syncs with all social media sites, and not only updates your friend’s profile pictures, but also syncs their birthdays, status updates, and locations. The app has been downloaded over 5 million times, and was founded by Shlomo Unger and Ken Vinner. They received $4 million in their first round of funding.  

9) Mobile Time Attendance- MTA is a cloud based attendance device that saves employers money by tracking attendance of employees in real time. The device enables employees to use mobile phones to sign in and out of work. The times are precise and recorded,  and as a result, you the employer, save on your salary overhead. Over 750,000 employees are currently using MTA in israel across hundreds of organizations. MTA was created in 2010 by Malam Team, a company with over 2,000 workers.

10) KidsCash- KidsCash is a very awesome idea. The site is an online marketplace for kids. Instead of children asking parents for their allowances every week, money is automatically transferred through Paypal to this site. Kids can then go online, buy whatever they want with their allowance. The site also features cool options such as a savings account and donation button that allows children to start learning to budget costs. KidsCash was founded by Yossi Dan, Erez Mizrachi, and Benyamin Shoham in April, 2011. They received an undisclosed amount of money in one round of seed funding.