There's evidence (both anecdotal and numeric) suggesting that people prefer using an apps to the "raw" web. My mom says about her iPhone, "Safari is still kind

There's evidence (both anecdotal and numeric) suggesting that people prefer using an apps to the "raw" web. My mom says about her iPhone, "Safari is still kind of hard for me. So I always look for an app first." I suspect her usage pattern may be somewhat typical, and if so, it may make a lot of sense for these companies to build these apps--because they're what the users want.