Recently, context-aware application has been one of the hottest researching fields in the domain of business intelligence. By reviewing the progress of context-aware application in these years, this paper proposes a four-layer classification framework and gives an analysis and comparison to the concept and theory, context-aware computing and typical application which are related to context-aware application. It also summarizes their characteristics and effects from the point of practical use. Lastly, some discussions and suggestions were given to emphasize the difficulty of current application conditions.