5 ms·

Apps only work for very specific use cases. The difficulty in getting people to download your app shows that. That study doesn’t seem to break down what apps ar

Apps only work for very specific use cases. The difficulty in getting people to download your app shows that. That study doesn’t seem to break down what apps are being used. I’m going to guess games, as they dominate the charts, or specific websites that have created mobile apps. Facebook, Twitter or maps, which are used for multiple hours straight when driving. If there is a site you use often enough it graduates to living in your phone. But the majority of what apps can do is never even touched. I’d be much more interested in a breakdown of app usage, as I bet active time shifts more towards web

amw-zero 6y ago
> The difficulty in getting people to download your app shows that This one I'm always interested in. What is difficult about downloading an app?
- filleduchaos 6y ago
  You're misreading that statement. Downloading an app is not difficult, _getting_ people to download one is.
  - amw-zero 6y ago
    How is that different than any other distribution platform?
    - filleduchaos 6y ago
      I'm not sure it really needs to be explained that if you're trying to introduce a service to someone for the first time, asking them to access a web page (available on whatever device they're with at the moment and up, running and ready to interact with in seconds) is less likely to lose their attention than asking them to download and install yet another app.
- tashoecraft 6y ago
  I personally don’t have much problem with the 100+ apps on my phone, but really it’s an app graveyard. I use maybe 10 regularly. I’ve also cut social media apps from my phone due to battery usage and privacy violations. Downloading an app is more personal, phone storage space is still a premium for many people. App devs don’t seem to care at all how big there app is. We yell at at web devs when their page is >1mb. I’ve tried downloading simple apps whose size are 400mb, what the hell are they doing? If I can visit their site that’s 1mb or download their app that’s 400x, maybe I’ll just visit the site and be on with my day.
- Dacod 6y ago
  Downloading apps is not difficult but it's difficult to get people to download apps.
- acdha 6y ago
  You’re on a web page. You can either do what you need or tap the install link, approve the install, wait for a huge download, find and open it, wait for it to initialize, authenticate in the app, and then find whatever you were doing. If you use this all the time it’s amortized over heavy usage but the vast majority of business apps are not, and every study I’ve seen shows people falling off at each of those stages.

amw-zero 6y ago

> The difficulty in getting people to download your app shows that This one I'm always interested in. What is difficult about downloading an app?

filleduchaos 6y ago
You're misreading that statement. Downloading an app is not difficult, _getting_ people to download one is.
- amw-zero 6y ago
  How is that different than any other distribution platform?
  - filleduchaos 6y ago
    I'm not sure it really needs to be explained that if you're trying to introduce a service to someone for the first time, asking them to access a web page (available on whatever device they're with at the moment and up, running and ready to interact with in seconds) is less likely to lose their attention than asking them to download and install yet another app.
tashoecraft 6y ago
I personally don’t have much problem with the 100+ apps on my phone, but really it’s an app graveyard. I use maybe 10 regularly. I’ve also cut social media apps from my phone due to battery usage and privacy violations. Downloading an app is more personal, phone storage space is still a premium for many people. App devs don’t seem to care at all how big there app is. We yell at at web devs when their page is >1mb. I’ve tried downloading simple apps whose size are 400mb, what the hell are they doing? If I can visit their site that’s 1mb or download their app that’s 400x, maybe I’ll just visit the site and be on with my day.
Dacod 6y ago
Downloading apps is not difficult but it's difficult to get people to download apps.
acdha 6y ago
You’re on a web page. You can either do what you need or tap the install link, approve the install, wait for a huge download, find and open it, wait for it to initialize, authenticate in the app, and then find whatever you were doing. If you use this all the time it’s amortized over heavy usage but the vast majority of business apps are not, and every study I’ve seen shows people falling off at each of those stages.