With the invention of Apple’s iPhone, smartphones have been in the palm of our hand ever since. Now, the City of Washington is possibly looking into getting an app and public Wi-Fi for the city.

City apps are nothing new and Greenville recently got on the bandwagon when it launched its app earlier this month. Washington is looking to follow suit possibly in 2015 with councilman William Pitt embracing the technology.

The Destination Greenville app assists visitors in planning trips to Pitt County. The app also provides residents information about the goings on in the city, which is what Pitt is looking for.

“The cost of the Greenville app was shared with the tourism bureau and the city, and it cost them $800 to develop,” Pitt said. “The city spent another $1,130 on the City Compass and the reoccurring cost of that is $11,300 and those can probably be shared probably with all of our organizations to promote the water front together, but that is not something we have not discussed as a group.”

Greenville City Compass uses GPS to allow smartphone users to automatically map the location of a problem — like a streetlight burned out.

One of the other technologies Washington could be looking into is public Wi-Fi.

“That is a subject that has got close to me,” Pitt said. “As folks age and go to school they have to embrace technology for their education.”

During Monday’s city council meeting, a Chocowinity boater went in front of council to discuss public Wi-Fi for incoming boat captains looking for updated river conditions or Washington attractions.

Currently, the city doesn’t offer public Wi-Fi and boaters have to either use their cellular data plans or find a hotspot in Washington.

“As the gentlemen said Monday night in the meeting, he looks at the active captain website, which shows what communities offer Wi-Fi,” Pitt said.  “I know a lot of times it’s a matter of funding, but as I say ‘pay me now or pay me later.’”

Pitt would like to see the Wi-Fi offered in the central business district and he says people will eventually see it downtown.

“An open network is offered in Greenville and a lot of the other communities a little bit larger,” Pitt said. “They might not be as fast as your personal network, but just the ability to come online offers opportunities.”

Pitt feels that Internet is the third component in economic development.