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Uber/Lyft, whatever social media apps are popular at the time (facebook, snap, twitter, instagram, whatsapp, and periscope at the moment, probably), banking app

by jrs95 9y ago

Uber/Lyft, whatever social media apps are popular at the time (facebook, snap, twitter, instagram, whatsapp, and periscope at the moment, probably), banking apps, high quality navigation app (a lot of people would never give up either Google Maps or Waze). There's probably more I'm not aware of, as I've never been a particularly heavy app user. But with things like Amazon moving into groceries etc I wouldn't be surprised if more and more software gets tied up in proprietary mobile platforms. Even if most of those applications could be done in HTML5, most of them are not, and I highly doubt you could make them that way without significant UX compromises.

JoshTriplett 9y ago
Note that when I said "key apps that neither of those would cover", I was including the stopgap of Android app emulation in that. > Uber/Lyft Uber has a mobile site at m.uber.com, and of course both would work via Android app emulation as a stopgap. > whatever social media apps are popular at the time Facebook and Twitter both have mobile sites, as do various others, and all of those would work via Android app emulation as a stopgap. There are also several native Linux clients for many of those. > banking apps Most bank sites (and credit card sites) work fine in a mobile browser. The only feature that commonly doesn't work is check deposit by camera, and there's no good reason for that. But in any case, Android app emulation would cover those for that use case. > high quality navigation app (a lot of people would never give up either Google Maps or Waze). Google Maps works perfectly via the web. > But with things like Amazon moving into groceries Both Amazon and Prime Now work perfectly via the websites, without needing an app. To add a few you didn't mention: YouTube has a perfectly functional mobile version; Netflix and Amazon Prime Video should work fine on a mobile browser (insert standard objection that EME is not appropriate for the web); Slack and Discord work via the web; there are several native calendaring apps (though they'll need some mobile UX improvement) as well as web apps. I absolutely agree that the experience needs some work and polish; that's what I'm hoping to see happen in the next few years. That said, what I'm looking for are things that aren't possible via either HTML5 or Android emulation.

by jrs95 9y ago

JoshTriplett 9y ago

Note that when I said "key apps that neither of those would cover", I was including the stopgap of Android app emulation in that. > Uber/Lyft Uber has a mobile site at m.uber.com, and of course both would work via Android app emulation as a stopgap. > whatever social media apps are popular at the time Facebook and Twitter both have mobile sites, as do various others, and all of those would work via Android app emulation as a stopgap. There are also several native Linux clients for many of those. > banking apps Most bank sites (and credit card sites) work fine in a mobile browser. The only feature that commonly doesn't work is check deposit by camera, and there's no good reason for that. But in any case, Android app emulation would cover those for that use case. > high quality navigation app (a lot of people would never give up either Google Maps or Waze). Google Maps works perfectly via the web. > But with things like Amazon moving into groceries Both Amazon and Prime Now work perfectly via the websites, without needing an app. To add a few you didn't mention: YouTube has a perfectly functional mobile version; Netflix and Amazon Prime Video should work fine on a mobile browser (insert standard objection that EME is not appropriate for the web); Slack and Discord work via the web; there are several native calendaring apps (though they'll need some mobile UX improvement) as well as web apps. I absolutely agree that the experience needs some work and polish; that's what I'm hoping to see happen in the next few years. That said, what I'm looking for are things that aren't possible via either HTML5 or Android emulation.