5 ms·

Will the Mobile Web Kill Off the App Store?

17 points by jasonlbaptiste 17y ago

tomwans 17y ago
As much as I love web applications, sometimes they're simply just not suited for the task (music streaming, etc.) right now. Even current simple web applications for the iPhone, like Gmail, aren't perfect (but oh do I love it over the native Mail client). But with Apple's help in creating (albeit proprietary) standard for a mobile web app (http://ajaxian.com/archives/iphone-full-screen-webapps http://ajaxian.com/archives/iphone-full-screen-webapps), the mobile web experience should be getting better (why hasn't Google implemented this yet?). The way I see it, we'll be having web apps and native apps sitting side by side on our mobile devices for quite some time in the future (if not already).
- jasonlbaptiste 17y ago
  There are lots of gaps to be filled, but they're being filled pretty fast. Someone needs to do what jquery did for interface/interaction for offline access.
- raimondious 17y ago
  Exactly. Why do people make false dichotomies in tech so much? People paint a picture that one technology will completely dominate over another, when really the interesting thing is the variety. Everything has a trade-off and everything has its niche.
  - roc 17y ago
    Because splitting people into "teams" evokes tribe-response and drives page-views/circulation/discussion/etc.
    - deleted 17y ago
      [deleted]
    - mechanical_fish 17y ago
      To look on the bright side, the same social dynamics drives the competition between rival strategies, forcing both of them to evolve more quickly.
- fletchowns 17y ago
  Maybe not right now, but it's headed in the right direction with the <audio> and <video> tags, if only they could agree on a damn codec. It's too bad the W3C moves so slowly, why do we not have a <webcam> tag or a way to do P2P communication in javascript?
jasonlbaptiste 17y ago
the app store is a great platform, no doubt about it. 50 million+ phones and easy monetization. On the flip side, the web is the larger platform. HTML5 and the like are going to bring about a new class of applications. I think we'll look back and say holy shit, apple really kicked off a new way for app developers to think about how they make money on the web. I'm Long web.
CoryMathews 17y ago
Web will win. No one wants to make an app for the iPhone, Android, Palm, Blackberry, and WinMobil when then can just make 1 for the web which all of them can access. 1 Company will never and should never control the way people access information. App stores allow this while the web does not making it the only likely future.
- brg 17y ago
  Alternatively, everyone wants to get paid. No one is going to put in the time and resources to support an app that can not be monetized. And if the advertising model does not work on mobile phones (perhaps lack of screen real-estate, perhaps mobile has terrible cpm) then there is no alternative than the app store.
  - jasonlbaptiste 17y ago
    This is a big problem. It will get fixed.
    - moe 17y ago
      It's also a rather easy problem. Web billing systems have existed for ages, I don't see a reason why those shouldn't work on a phone.
      - jasonlbaptiste 17y ago
        It takes initiative and a great product specifically built for the problem. You can't just plug in a hard to use product (for the dev and end user). It needs to be as easy to buy the mobile web app as it is to buy the iphone app store app. ie- one click. have you ever tried to put CC info in on a mobile phone? its hell.
        moe 17y ago
        This is a billion dollar market. Rest assured initiative will not be in short supply, once the first serious mobile webapps (read: proof of concept) pop up. Apple will do their best to hinder progress as long as they can but I doubt they can delay the inevitable for very long. The next gen of phones will likely already provide a near frictionless web performance. From there it's only a matter of being "allowed" to hook into phone APIs via javascript. Apple will naturally deny this while Android will embrace it aggressively. From that point onwards Apple has a serious problem on their hands, as far as the iPhone platform is concerned.
zefhous 17y ago
The whole premise is off base. Neither one has to "win." Each model has its own strengths and weaknesses, and each will continue to thrive and be used for its own purposes. Also, the word "mobile" is overused and is pretty much BS. It's inexact and short sighted.
joshwa 17y ago
With PhoneGap you can have the best of both worlds: using HTML5 and PhoneGap, you can write web applications running inside of a native shell, including proxies to native hardware functionality including accelerometers, cameras, proximity sensors, etc. You can run these apps on iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, Symbian, Palm, and Blackberry. http://phonegap.com/ http://phonegap.com/ This is what I'll be building my apps on. (n.b. Confirmed by Apple to be in compliance with 3.3.1.)
Anechoic 17y ago
Isn't that what Apple wanted in the first place? http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/06/11iphone.html http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/06/11iphone.html
naner 17y ago
> “Over time, the web will win because it always does.” I know we're talking about the web here but this seems like a really foolish attitude.
paul9290 17y ago
Google is trying with their various web apps they have, but it's a work in progress. I do not like their latest Google Voice web app. To call a contact I have to load the app, then load contact page, then load contact Im calling, then click to call then click to call again? WTH? The first web version was and is a lot better as you can create bookmarks to each contact on your iPhone's homescreen. Just click to load contact's page, click call and it rings you to connect call. They went backwards with that one. Are there any web apps now that help this arguement; Google's latest attempt falls short.

As much as I love web applications, sometimes they're simply just not suited for the task (music streaming, etc.) right now. Even current simple web applications for the iPhone, like Gmail, aren't perfect (but oh do I love it over the native Mail client). But with Apple's help in creating (albeit proprietary) standard for a mobile web app (http://ajaxian.com/archives/iphone-full-screen-webapps http://ajaxian.com/archives/iphone-full-screen-webapps), the mobile web experience should be getting better (why hasn't Google implemented this yet?). The way I see it, we'll be having web apps and native apps sitting side by side on our mobile devices for quite some time in the future (if not already).

jasonlbaptiste 17y ago
There are lots of gaps to be filled, but they're being filled pretty fast. Someone needs to do what jquery did for interface/interaction for offline access.
raimondious 17y ago
Exactly. Why do people make false dichotomies in tech so much? People paint a picture that one technology will completely dominate over another, when really the interesting thing is the variety. Everything has a trade-off and everything has its niche.
- roc 17y ago
  Because splitting people into "teams" evokes tribe-response and drives page-views/circulation/discussion/etc.
  - deleted 17y ago
    [deleted]
  - mechanical_fish 17y ago
    To look on the bright side, the same social dynamics drives the competition between rival strategies, forcing both of them to evolve more quickly.
fletchowns 17y ago
Maybe not right now, but it's headed in the right direction with the <audio> and <video> tags, if only they could agree on a damn codec. It's too bad the W3C moves so slowly, why do we not have a <webcam> tag or a way to do P2P communication in javascript?

jasonlbaptiste 17y ago

the app store is a great platform, no doubt about it. 50 million+ phones and easy monetization. On the flip side, the web is the larger platform. HTML5 and the like are going to bring about a new class of applications. I think we'll look back and say holy shit, apple really kicked off a new way for app developers to think about how they make money on the web. I'm Long web.

CoryMathews 17y ago

Web will win. No one wants to make an app for the iPhone, Android, Palm, Blackberry, and WinMobil when then can just make 1 for the web which all of them can access. 1 Company will never and should never control the way people access information. App stores allow this while the web does not making it the only likely future.

brg 17y ago
Alternatively, everyone wants to get paid. No one is going to put in the time and resources to support an app that can not be monetized. And if the advertising model does not work on mobile phones (perhaps lack of screen real-estate, perhaps mobile has terrible cpm) then there is no alternative than the app store.
- jasonlbaptiste 17y ago
  This is a big problem. It will get fixed.
  - moe 17y ago
    It's also a rather easy problem. Web billing systems have existed for ages, I don't see a reason why those shouldn't work on a phone.
    - jasonlbaptiste 17y ago
      It takes initiative and a great product specifically built for the problem. You can't just plug in a hard to use product (for the dev and end user). It needs to be as easy to buy the mobile web app as it is to buy the iphone app store app. ie- one click. have you ever tried to put CC info in on a mobile phone? its hell.
      - moe 17y ago
        This is a billion dollar market. Rest assured initiative will not be in short supply, once the first serious mobile webapps (read: proof of concept) pop up. Apple will do their best to hinder progress as long as they can but I doubt they can delay the inevitable for very long. The next gen of phones will likely already provide a near frictionless web performance. From there it's only a matter of being "allowed" to hook into phone APIs via javascript. Apple will naturally deny this while Android will embrace it aggressively. From that point onwards Apple has a serious problem on their hands, as far as the iPhone platform is concerned.

zefhous 17y ago

The whole premise is off base. Neither one has to "win." Each model has its own strengths and weaknesses, and each will continue to thrive and be used for its own purposes. Also, the word "mobile" is overused and is pretty much BS. It's inexact and short sighted.

joshwa 17y ago

With PhoneGap you can have the best of both worlds: using HTML5 and PhoneGap, you can write web applications running inside of a native shell, including proxies to native hardware functionality including accelerometers, cameras, proximity sensors, etc. You can run these apps on iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, Symbian, Palm, and Blackberry. http://phonegap.com/ http://phonegap.com/ This is what I'll be building my apps on. (n.b. Confirmed by Apple to be in compliance with 3.3.1.)

Anechoic 17y ago

Isn't that what Apple wanted in the first place? http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/06/11iphone.html http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/06/11iphone.html

naner 17y ago

> “Over time, the web will win because it always does.” I know we're talking about the web here but this seems like a really foolish attitude.

paul9290 17y ago

Google is trying with their various web apps they have, but it's a work in progress. I do not like their latest Google Voice web app. To call a contact I have to load the app, then load contact page, then load contact Im calling, then click to call then click to call again? WTH? The first web version was and is a lot better as you can create bookmarks to each contact on your iPhone's homescreen. Just click to load contact's page, click call and it rings you to connect call. They went backwards with that one. Are there any web apps now that help this arguement; Google's latest attempt falls short.