We’ve been talking a lot here at McKinney in recent weeks regarding the future of mobile apps or perhaps more broadly the future of the mobile web. Our phones are basically small computers that are permantly connected to the web, how long will it be before downloading and installing apps is a thing of the past? Leaving aside for a moment some of the security concerns regarding accessing hardware features from browser based apps – why wouldn’t apps be delivered through the browser, and accessed in the same way as other software. Isn’t this the future, the promise of the cloud? Google is already delivering all their software this way and Microsoft are not far behind and most software developers are realizing the promise of the SaaS model.
Don’t get me wrong – the app store was a genius idea. But have you looked in there lately, it is getting increasingly cluttered and it is hard for anyone to cut through the clutter and really stand out.
This week Rob Ford from FWA shared his views on the subject on the Virgin Entrepreneur blog in a post titled, ‘Mobile apps and why they have no future’. Rob argues that instead of going to the expense of building apps for multiple platforms it makes more sense to develop a web site that works nicely across all platforms. In his article he predicts that in 10 years time apps will have no place in the industry.
With the launch of our very own website this is exactly what we were attempting to do, create an experience that works well across multiple devices. An experience that allows you to ‘touch & swipe’ on gesture based devices and ‘point & click’ on old fashioned devices. It is a challenge but it’s possible.
Dave Snyder from Firstborn wrote recently about a slightly different but linked subject. In his article published on Creativity titled ‘Thoughts on the Mobile Web: Stop Being Average’ he talks about the need to create premium experiences for premium devices. He argues that users of a Blackberry expect and deserve an experience designed for that device AND that the experience should be different for users of an Android and iPhone and so on. In creating a site that works across all devices he worries that the experience will only be average at best.
It’s an interesting POV. I certainly agree that in theory the right thing to do is create an experience designed to work with how the user interacts, be it through a click or a touch or even one of those Blackberry ‘nipples’. However, I do think it’s possible to create one site that is device aware and optimize itself depending on how that user is interacting. In my opinion this shouldn’t necessarily mean creating an ‘average’ experience for the user but I guess time will tell.
I for one can’t wait to see the next generation of mobile websites that go straight at the heart of this issue.
About the Author:
Name: Trevor O’Brien
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Location: North Carolina Area, US
Company: VP Interactive Technology Director @ McKinney
That’s the first requirement, getting your site in shape to behave nicely across devices. But the stuff we are going to come up with in the (near) future, will require something more than the mobile browser. App Stores will evolve and the app is here to stay. No doubt in my mind and I’m surprised Rob doesn’t see that. On the topic of multiscreen development, at Adobe Max 2010 Kevin Lynch already showed us what Adobe is working on. And it’s not that hard to do. What amazes me is the fact that companies are waiting and waiting… for statistics. What’s up? Afraid of emerging technologies? Incompetent decision makers? It’s mind boggling. ‘Just do it’! Innovate!
I totally agree. Apps will be dead in short order and web-based content will be the order of the day. In the short term there may be the need to develop a per-device ‘frame’ that the web-based content/application can sit in, especially for more complex stuff (see the BBC iPlayer on iPhone) and this approach will sooth the furrowed brow of Dave Snyder and his ilk, but inevitably even these will fall by the wayside because the fly in the ointment is the closed nature of app stores. If the only way to get your content onto the iPhone is via the unwieldy and almost unnavigable app store then it makes sense to create something available through the browser. Add-in micro-payment subscriptions via operator billing or credit card and you have no need of an app store at all.
So, the web is not unwieldy and almost unnavigable? True, in a perfect world we have nothing but a browser – made and delivered according to standards everyone agrees on happily and quickly. The browser as the über app, most likely controlled by an über company. It could happen but not in our lifetime if you ask me.
Quality blog post, I really anticipate updates by you.
It’s definitely an interesting time in the world of apps. Right now for many things we want to do we have no choice but to implement it as an app. Then we hope that people download it and that when we have updates they will take the time to download those too. But recent announcements of faster and more powerful hardware will allow us to take advantage of hardware acceleration directly from the browser. Once we can securely tap into other features like the camera and the accelerometer we will probably see a new generation of mobile websites. It will make it a bit easier on all of us, users, brands and developers.
Great article and discussion. A very relevant article as the number of mobile operating systems continues to increase. The prospect of building native apps for each mobile OS will become cost prohibitive and the answer will increasingly become to build mobile specific browser apps. However, there will always be a need for native apps for some applications because standards compliant web apps cannot keep pace with the trajectory of functionality enabled through proprietary app stores.