*App streaming* is a way of delivering the user experience of an app without actually running the app on the user’s machine. The name is an allusion to music and video streaming; you get to experience the asset immediately, without waiting for it to download completely. Streaming an app also has the benefit of avoiding installation, something which can be problematic to do (and to undo). This is nice when you just want to demo an app, before deciding to install it.
Another advantage of app streaming is that the app can run on a much faster machine than the user’s, or even on a network of machines. Social networks are a crude example of app streaming; there are massive backends working behind your web browser, crunching away on all that graph data. Typically, though, app streaming involves an explicit visual component, with the user’s display and input devices standing in for the normal ones. The goal is to make using a new app as simple as playing an online video.