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It’s funny how this became the case; Apple pushed Web Apps until they realized that native App Delivery is a profitable revenue stream. In 2007, Steve Jobs’ or

It’s funny how this became the case; Apple pushed Web Apps until they realized that native App Delivery is a profitable revenue stream. In 2007, Steve Jobs’ originally intended “iPhone OS” apps to be only browser based web apps; way before Google uttered the term “Progressive Web Apps.” Apple’s early web app SDK didn’t win too many fans. As it turns out, users were not impressed with the contrast between the robustness of first party native apps, and the lagging fit, finish, and performance of Web apps in Safari on a 2G device. In 2008, native App Store arrives. Ever since the App Store debuted with iPhone OS 2, Apple has chose not to implement and champion improvements in mobileSafari that make Web apps work as well as they do on Desktop. This is strategic, App Store is a lucrative business that gives Apple absolute control over iOS. They heavily promote development for native apps with Swift. They give developers much more to work with in terms of stimulating user engagement and tracking; and users prefer the polished experience of a native app with fewer compromises. Apple continues to prohibit adding any app with a Web Engine other than WebKit, hindering any further improvement possible with other Web Engines. Imagine someone could deploy an app with a modern web engine that allows a user to have a new web based App Store that bypasses the Apple app review process. It took Apple forever to half implement Service Workers and other Progressive Web App standards. Apple doesn’t have the same control over what goes on the desktop. It’s a fragmented mess. There’s now only two major mobile platforms, but there are PCs with 32-Bit ARM and x86, 64-Bit ARM64 and X64 processors running variations of Windows, Macs, and Unix / Linux operating systems. It’s just not economically viable to try and target them all unless it’s an app that produces content. Users that produce content usually do so on system resource intensive apps from the likes of AutoDesk and Adobe on Desktop - but this is also changing.

dangus 6y ago
Everybody keeps citing how “Steve Jobs wanted web apps” from Walter Isaacson’s biography, but I don’t think he was all that strongly dead set against them: He was against them “partly because he felt his team did not have the bandwidth to figure out all the complexities that would be involved in policing third-party app developers.” https://www.cultofmac.com/125180/steve-jobs-was-originally-dead-set-against-third-party-apps-for-the-iphone/ https://www.cultofmac.com/125180/steve-jobs-was-originally-d... In my opinion, I don’t think Steve was actually against an App Store by any sort of philosophical ideal. He was working with a much smaller Apple was trying to get a 1.0 product out the door. The iPhone barely worked long enough to run the demos for the original keynote. I recall reading that it was a miracle that the software got through it without crashing. “Web apps” was the excuse for the App Store not being ready: personally I think it was part of the plan by that point.
cblconfederate 6y ago
> and users prefer the polished experience of a native app with fewer compromises Why are apps pushed so hard to users though? If they are so clearly superior users would seek to download them, right? They don't, overwhelmingly so. The average user downloads 0 apps per month.

dangus 6y ago

Everybody keeps citing how “Steve Jobs wanted web apps” from Walter Isaacson’s biography, but I don’t think he was all that strongly dead set against them: He was against them “partly because he felt his team did not have the bandwidth to figure out all the complexities that would be involved in policing third-party app developers.” https://www.cultofmac.com/125180/steve-jobs-was-originally-dead-set-against-third-party-apps-for-the-iphone/ https://www.cultofmac.com/125180/steve-jobs-was-originally-d... In my opinion, I don’t think Steve was actually against an App Store by any sort of philosophical ideal. He was working with a much smaller Apple was trying to get a 1.0 product out the door. The iPhone barely worked long enough to run the demos for the original keynote. I recall reading that it was a miracle that the software got through it without crashing. “Web apps” was the excuse for the App Store not being ready: personally I think it was part of the plan by that point.

cblconfederate 6y ago

> and users prefer the polished experience of a native app with fewer compromises Why are apps pushed so hard to users though? If they are so clearly superior users would seek to download them, right? They don't, overwhelmingly so. The average user downloads 0 apps per month.