If you’re eleven years old, you’ve already lived through a revolution. In July 2008, Apple launched the App Store. An app was a whole new thing. An application that would work on your iPhone to accomplish a specific task. And it was designed and built by a third party. That is, not Apple. Google and its Android operating system weren’t far behind, and over the past decade apps have been downloaded to phones hundreds of millions of times.

Whether you’re 11 years old and glued to a device, or older and resistant to technology, apps on our phones are literally an integral part of our lives. And the revolution is far from over.

Today, local software developer Calvin Fabre is at the leading edge of it. Calvin is the founder and President of a company called Envoc. Envoc employs 15 people who create all kinds of software products but the one that’s getting the most buzz right now is an app called LA Wallet. It allows you to put your driver’s license in your phone. And the state of Louisiana is the first state in the nation to recognize your digital driver’s license as legally acceptable everywhere. This is a big deal. And it can get a lot bigger as it spreads across the country.

When you’re designing an app, you need to be able to answer the question, “What problem does my app solve?”

Gerald Huffman had a problem. The same one that most of us have – where to find a good deal on a good meal at a restaurant or bar. Unlike most of us, Gerald decided to build an app to solve that problem. That app is called PLATE. It lets restaurants and bars add deals in real time, and it lets users find those deals.

The fact that we’re able to have this conversation over a meal in Lafayette, and get in our cars to go home, rather than getting on a plane to go back to California, is a testament to where we are, both here in Acadiana and in other parts of Louisiana.

Photos at Marcello’s Wine Market and Cafe by Lucius Fontenot.