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App for that, app for this .... Every grocery store, every department store have an app. I am so overwhelmed. I don't want to use any app other than a browser.

by obilgic 14y ago

tadfisher 14y ago
Exactly. If there's nothing your app does except act as a "nicer" front end to your website, it doesn't deserve to be an app. Take the Newegg app, for instance. It is literally a mobile site served up in PhoneGap. They could just make that their default stylesheet for mobile web and it would both perform better and be a better experience for their users, who now don't have to download yet another app to use a website they'll visit once or twice a year.
- rogerbinns 14y ago
  The apps also serve as a bookmark. Although I use bookmarks in my desktop browsers, I usually just type wherever I want to go. That isn't really feasible on mobile browsers and I don't even bother with mobile bookmarks. For the Newegg app they do have barcode scanning built in (Android version) which isn't possible as a website.
- josephlord 14y ago
  Done right offline reading is a valuable feature for news apps (proper Newspapers), particularly for traveling (flying) or when roaming so that you can refresh on wifi and use without roaming charges.
obilgic 14y ago
I feel like companies tend to abuse every new communication channel they have to the customer. radio - commercials, tv - commercials, mail - spam, e-mail - spam, phone - cold calling, text - spam, web - banners, social media - ads, apps - useless apps, All of these channels have been abused by companies until channel gets too inefficient, costly, or regulated.
- alpb 14y ago
  The way we read news hasn't changed much since early 2000s. It shouldn't be like this anymore; it is age of curated and personalized content. Every time I launch a newspaper app, I feel like wasting my time since I care only about 10% of the news offered on my screen.
  - mikevm 14y ago
    That's why Flipboard + Google Reader is such a great combination.
malandrew 14y ago
Worse than that is that you lose the value of the hyperlink. WebIntents and Intents on Android are an attempt to "fix" this, but native apps are not really designed with the concept of hyperlinks in mind, that IMHO is the most unfortunate loss with native apps. The Apple native app ecosystem is the equivalent of AOL in the mid-90s. It doesn't play well with the one feature that made the web so immensely valuable.

App for that, app for this .... Every grocery store, every department store have an app. I am so overwhelmed. I don't want to use any app other than a browser.

by obilgic 14y ago

App for that, app for this .... Every grocery store, every department store have an app. I am so overwhelmed. I don't want to use any app other than a browser.

tadfisher 14y ago

Exactly. If there's nothing your app does except act as a "nicer" front end to your website, it doesn't deserve to be an app. Take the Newegg app, for instance. It is literally a mobile site served up in PhoneGap. They could just make that their default stylesheet for mobile web and it would both perform better and be a better experience for their users, who now don't have to download yet another app to use a website they'll visit once or twice a year.

rogerbinns 14y ago
The apps also serve as a bookmark. Although I use bookmarks in my desktop browsers, I usually just type wherever I want to go. That isn't really feasible on mobile browsers and I don't even bother with mobile bookmarks. For the Newegg app they do have barcode scanning built in (Android version) which isn't possible as a website.
josephlord 14y ago
Done right offline reading is a valuable feature for news apps (proper Newspapers), particularly for traveling (flying) or when roaming so that you can refresh on wifi and use without roaming charges.

obilgic 14y ago

I feel like companies tend to abuse every new communication channel they have to the customer. radio - commercials, tv - commercials, mail - spam, e-mail - spam, phone - cold calling, text - spam, web - banners, social media - ads, apps - useless apps, All of these channels have been abused by companies until channel gets too inefficient, costly, or regulated.

alpb 14y ago
The way we read news hasn't changed much since early 2000s. It shouldn't be like this anymore; it is age of curated and personalized content. Every time I launch a newspaper app, I feel like wasting my time since I care only about 10% of the news offered on my screen.
- mikevm 14y ago
  That's why Flipboard + Google Reader is such a great combination.

malandrew 14y ago

Worse than that is that you lose the value of the hyperlink. WebIntents and Intents on Android are an attempt to "fix" this, but native apps are not really designed with the concept of hyperlinks in mind, that IMHO is the most unfortunate loss with native apps. The Apple native app ecosystem is the equivalent of AOL in the mid-90s. It doesn't play well with the one feature that made the web so immensely valuable.