Not quite. If this project was started now by the time the app was done not only would the devices change but the wants and needs of the people who will use it. So even given aninfinite amount of time there is to way to satisfy every person's wish.
A brick maybe able to satisfy the things you suggest but with 550,000 devices activated a day and 6.5 billion people on the planet there in no chance that 1 app could ever do what every person ever wanted. Given the fact that there is almost an infinite amount of things people want to do with their device no way it could happen. It would stand as much of a chance of happening as my, personally traveling in and out of a black hole before I die.
Let me explain this post a bit more. I can tell you from knowledge of the creation of our App for the forums that Apple takes up to 2 weeks to review and approve an app to the AppStore. So lets look at this aspect alone.
Lets say that right now, 9:30 PM EST on Aug 14,2011, that there is exactly 1 million apps in the AppStore. So to combine those apps into 1 app is already a task. But lets say for sake of argument that it could be done. Lets say that this task takes a week of coding. Now the app is submitted. It takes 2 weeks for the app to be approved and submitted to the AppStore. Now that is 3 weeks of new apps that have to be added to this app. Meaning that right after the app hits the AppStore that the developer has to already update it. So lets say that it takes another 2 days to update the app, and yet another 2 weeks for it to go through Apple's process. By the time the update gets released, that is yet again another 2 weeks worth of new apps that have to be added in. So it will be a vicious cycle just trying to keep the Apple iOS app updated.
That doesnt even include the time needed for Android, webOS, RIM (Blackberry) and WP7. So even if the time while the app was being submitted to Apple was used to do Android, after the app hit the Android Market, more apps would be released. Given the fact that the Android Market is so badly laid out and that new apps are not the easiest to find, that means that research must be done to find these new apps and include them. Adding more time to the update process for Android.
So even if such a task was possible that there could be 1 app for all, the task to go about it would be never ending since there are new apps released everyday. Then to update the app with these new apps and keep that app updated for all mobile OS's is already daunting. That is not even adding into the aspect the various manufacturer's and networks that this app would have to operate on. Since using something on the AT&T network isnt going to operate the same way as it would on T-Mobile or Verizon. That isnt including Orange, T-Mobile UK, Bell, and all the other carriers out there.
Plus taken into account the fact that Apple doesnt approve right away the apps that repeat functions of things iOS already does, that can only mean delays to that app hitting the AppStore. It also doesnt account for how the same app doesnt work on even the same devices on the same carrier. Saxon can tell you more about that from his experience with an Android based HTC device trying to get a SSH app working on all the devices properly. So work would have to be done there.
I am not trying to argue that it isnt possible, just saying that the task would be so intense that without a definitive goal in mind, just saying that someone is trying to create the ultimate app is next to impossible. What I would be looking for in this app isnt going to be the same as what Luke is or Carnage or Clown or anyone else. So to try and create this ultimate app would be close to impossible on that aspect alone as it would have to do something different for every person. I wouldnt download the app and use it if it did things that I did not want to do. It wouldnt serve any purpose for me if it did more than I wanted. I want it to do something specific, that is why I am downloading it. So that thing I have in mind is not what anyone else has in mind as they would want more or less than what I do.
Just saying that this ultimate app is about as big a pipe dream as creating an ultimate OS that satisfy's everyone's needs.
