How mobile app dependent are we? That's one of the questions that Apigee, the API company, wanted to find out when it surveyed 760 smartphone owners in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Spain, and Germany. According to the 2013 Mobile App Behavior Survey results, most users can't go a day without their apps.The survey also revealed some differences between mobile apps between countries, but overall, the dependency on mobile apps is shared across smartphone users from each of the five countries included in the study. A few highlights that might surprise you follow:

• 85% of respondents would rather give up drinking water than delete all of their mobile apps.
• 82% cannot go a day without their critical mobile apps. In Spain, 93% cannot go a day without their apps.
• 72% use as many as 10 apps each day. 2% use more than 50 apps each day.
• 50% of Americans claim they cannot go four hours without mobile apps.
• 48% would not be able to check email without mobile apps.
• 32% claim they cannot wake up in the morning without an app.
• 23% say they cannot feel happy without their mobile apps.
• 20% report they cannot navigate to work without apps.
• 19% would not be able to maintain their relationships without mobile apps.
• 13% say they cannot find a date without the help of mobile apps. In Spain, 23% cannot find a date without an app.
• 12% report they are unable to order dinner without using a mobile app. In France, 18% cannot order dinner without an app.
• 10% do not believe they could impress people without their mobile apps.
• 9% claim it would be easier for them to invent a new source of energy than delete all of the apps on their smartphones.

As smartphone users are becoming more and more dependent on their devices and mobile apps, their demands for advanced capabilities and features from mobile apps are limitless. Respondents to the Apigee study want a lot more, including:

• 46% want mobile apps to give them remote control of things in their homes such as lights, air conditioning, locks, and garage doors.
• 38% want mobile apps that enable them to track energy usage in their homes.
• 34% want mobile apps that would remotely start their cars.
• 21% want mobile apps that can charge purchases directly to their mobile phone bills.

It's hard to believe that the mobile apps industry is still so young. Within a relatively small amount of time, the world has become completely dependent on them, and that dependence will grow with each new generation. From social media to email, news to entertainment, and everything in between, we want it now and we want it at our fingertips. Could there be a time in the future when choosing your mobile apps over water doesn't sound that strange? What do you think?Image: Gonzalo Baeza