This is the thrilling thing about “Apps” on Mobile phones. Apps  and Web services are playing their part in opening up everybody-wins opportunities.

Dramatic and sometimes world-saving developments in areas such as water purification, medicine, transport, education and learning offer great promise – to mention a small sample from a long list. In more easily recognised ways, clever advances are providing exciting new opportunities supplying daily needs in a cheaper and easier way than we’ve had so far. Not life-saving, but life-enhancing.

What are these? New services such as Hailo (www.hailocab.com) and ParkAtMyHouse (www.ParkAtMyHouse.com)contribute significantly to convenience, earning power and efficiency. That’s not all. They have both enabled a boost to the levels of customer service in their respective service categories.

Hailo is a smart-phone App which allows the near-instant hailing of a taxi cab in London, Madrid, Barcelona, New York and Tokyo(with more cities being added) by tapping once on your smart-phone. The nearest taxi which is signed up to Hailo accepts the “hail” (at last count about 70% of London taxis were included), you are informed how long it will be for the taxi to arrive (a very much shorter time than standing on the street waiting for the familiar taxi sign to start appearing – and that’s before you know if the taxi is taken or available). The fare you pay is as shown on the taxi meter . When paying the fare you do not need to find your credit card again, you don’t need to swipe the card or enter a pin number – the fare is paid via your phone app on a credit card you assign to the app. The connection between you hailing the cab on your app and the driver accepting the instant “booking” causes the charge, which the driver shows you as you arrive at your destination, to be automatically processed.

ParkAtMyHouse enables anyone with a parking space, driveway or plot of land to become a car parking service instantly. You as the customer simply input where you want to park, select the nearest and most acceptably priced offer and book online by phone or computer.

Both services offer new, better levels of customer service. Hailo removes any suspicion one might have about honest charges by a taxi driver (let’s be frank, up until now, the relationship between cab drivers and passengers has not always been plain sailing!), it speeds up the arrival of a cab, improves the earning potential for the taxi driver as he spends less time driving around in hope of picking up a passenger, and, the system even alerts drivers of for example, many people waiting at a train station where they can go and rapidly shorten the queue.

ParkAtMyHouse offers an income opportunity and chance to use idle space that is anyway designed to be home to a car. Where “hosts” are near an airport or port they sometimes offer a free transfer to the airport doors, bettering both the convenience, service and price of entrenched (and usually expensive and time consuming) “official” airport car parks.

Both services are a winning proposition for those providing them and their customers.

Free trade at work through the imagination, innovation, persistence and hard work of these business creators.