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Isn't it nigh impossible for consumers to discover these web apps? They don't seem to stand a fighting chance as long as they are not indexed by the App store.

by MrJagil 15y ago

cageface 15y ago
The app store isn't much good for finding anything outside the top 25 apps anyway. If you want to dig any deeper than that you have to page through tons of junk by hand. I expect to see more and more apps like this move to the web. It's easier to iterate and simplifies multi-platform support. Apps will be coded to native apis because they really need that kind of access, and not just because people expect software to be delivered that way.
whatusername 15y ago
If you've got a brand as well known as playboy -- you've got a decent chance. Anyone else - not so much
tomjen3 15y ago
It is not at all difficult to let consumers discover those web apps - all you have do is to include an ad on the cover of the magazine "Get playboy for your iPad at www.playboy.com/ipad". You then make a similar note on the homepage. Now if you don't have a magazine you can advertise on, it becomes a little harder.
jokermatt999 15y ago
If you already have a site people go to, advertising a web app on there seems to work. Just don't it as annoyingly as IMDB.
DevX101 15y ago
I don't have a smart phone. What is it about iphones/androids that make it difficult to find and save interesting apps on the web? Is it that much more difficult than finding sites on a PC?
- MrJagil 15y ago
  No, but that is already difficult enough. How many non-preinstalled apps does your mom have on her pc? The app store changed all this. Suddenly, downloading apps was cool and fun. With this new web-app paradigm we're back to square one unless Apple steps in.
  - bad_user 15y ago
    I don't see how the app store changed it all. I've got both a Galaxy S with Android 2.3 and an iPhone 3GS and I do use a lot of apps, but I knew about the existence of every one of them from -- the WEB. I mostly search for brands (I'm sure a lot of people do), like Skype, Facebook, Flickr or Angry Birds. For my Android I couldn't find an official Flickr client, therefore I haven't installed one, preferring to use the web interface instead. That's not to say that I haven't discovered apps through the app store, but their usage was less than a single day. And when I searched for a number blacklister for my Android, I had to search the web to find a reliable one, as there are at least a dozen in Google's app store with big ratings that don't work properly and none in iTunes (through the web I found out that I have to jailbreak my iPhone). Really, the app store is good for providing a payments system and maybe getting some inspiration from available reviews when in doubt, but the reviews are kind of unreliable as devs found ways to spam or workaround bad reviews (like uploading the app under a slightly different name). It's terrible for finding stuff and it's useless for finding out what's possible/allowed.
jimbobimbo 15y ago
People somehow were finding websites before the AppStore arrival.
code_duck 15y ago
This is basically Playboy's mobile website, not an "App" as we would have called them 4 years ago. How hard is it to get people to be aware of Playboy's website? With a brand like that, and money to market it, and high visibility through other publications, not at all.

Isn't it nigh impossible for consumers to discover these web apps? They don't seem to stand a fighting chance as long as they are not indexed by the App store.

by MrJagil 15y ago

Isn't it nigh impossible for consumers to discover these web apps? They don't seem to stand a fighting chance as long as they are not indexed by the App store.

cageface 15y ago

The app store isn't much good for finding anything outside the top 25 apps anyway. If you want to dig any deeper than that you have to page through tons of junk by hand. I expect to see more and more apps like this move to the web. It's easier to iterate and simplifies multi-platform support. Apps will be coded to native apis because they really need that kind of access, and not just because people expect software to be delivered that way.

whatusername 15y ago

If you've got a brand as well known as playboy -- you've got a decent chance. Anyone else - not so much

tomjen3 15y ago

It is not at all difficult to let consumers discover those web apps - all you have do is to include an ad on the cover of the magazine "Get playboy for your iPad at www.playboy.com/ipad". You then make a similar note on the homepage. Now if you don't have a magazine you can advertise on, it becomes a little harder.

jokermatt999 15y ago

If you already have a site people go to, advertising a web app on there seems to work. Just don't it as annoyingly as IMDB.

DevX101 15y ago

I don't have a smart phone. What is it about iphones/androids that make it difficult to find and save interesting apps on the web? Is it that much more difficult than finding sites on a PC?

MrJagil 15y ago
No, but that is already difficult enough. How many non-preinstalled apps does your mom have on her pc? The app store changed all this. Suddenly, downloading apps was cool and fun. With this new web-app paradigm we're back to square one unless Apple steps in.
- bad_user 15y ago
  I don't see how the app store changed it all. I've got both a Galaxy S with Android 2.3 and an iPhone 3GS and I do use a lot of apps, but I knew about the existence of every one of them from -- the WEB. I mostly search for brands (I'm sure a lot of people do), like Skype, Facebook, Flickr or Angry Birds. For my Android I couldn't find an official Flickr client, therefore I haven't installed one, preferring to use the web interface instead. That's not to say that I haven't discovered apps through the app store, but their usage was less than a single day. And when I searched for a number blacklister for my Android, I had to search the web to find a reliable one, as there are at least a dozen in Google's app store with big ratings that don't work properly and none in iTunes (through the web I found out that I have to jailbreak my iPhone). Really, the app store is good for providing a payments system and maybe getting some inspiration from available reviews when in doubt, but the reviews are kind of unreliable as devs found ways to spam or workaround bad reviews (like uploading the app under a slightly different name). It's terrible for finding stuff and it's useless for finding out what's possible/allowed.

jimbobimbo 15y ago

People somehow were finding websites before the AppStore arrival.

code_duck 15y ago

This is basically Playboy's mobile website, not an "App" as we would have called them 4 years ago. How hard is it to get people to be aware of Playboy's website? With a brand like that, and money to market it, and high visibility through other publications, not at all.