I’m not the first and certainly not the last to notice this. We’ve re-invented the wheel and the Web browser. In the rush to get mobile, many seem to have forgotten why the Web is so successful and turned their back on it. Not Appy: How do we get out of this mess? Managing all this complexity isn’t cheap.
That’s good news for software engineers, but bad news for the organisations that have to pay them.
that chooses to play this game. Potentially any company or organisation putting data on the mobile Web might consider doing this by employing an army of android, blackberry, iPhone and windows developers on top of the existing Web developers already on the payroll. So a challenging task of delivering content onto a range of different devices has now been transformed into an almost impossible task of building and managing many different apps. Take twitter for example, in addition to the desktop and Web apps, twitter currently makes no fewer than five different applications just for tablets and phones: Instead of designing, building and maintaining one Web application to work across a range of different screens ( a challenging but not impossible task), many have chosen to develop lots of different apps. Producers and consumers both sufferĪs well as being a pain for users who have to manage hundreds of apps on their phones and tablets, the pain is magnified for producers of data too.
As a user, you could just use a mobile Web browser on your phone, but you’ll be discouraged from doing so. And this is just the tip of the iceberg, there’s bucket-loads more apps like this in Google Play and the App Store. They are all accessible from a Web browser on one of the “four screens ”: desktop, mobile, tablet and smart-TV: Native mobile appĪs you can see, users are encouraged to download, install, understand and maintain sixteen different apps to enjoy this small part of the mobile Web. Where there used to be just one application, now there are thousands of glorified “me too” Web browsers apps many of which have re-invented the Web, badly.Ĭonsider the applications in the table below and illustrated on the right.
Now compare this to the mobile Web where each page you visit on a mobile suggests that you download an app to read it. Wonderfully simple, wonderfully powerful – we’ve got so used to it we sometimes take it for granted. One software application (a browser), gives you access to an almost infinite number of Web applications. There are several flavours, but they all basically do the same thing using similar technology: they let you surf the Web. One of the great things about the Web is that you there is one app to rule them all a “ killer app” called a Web browser. I hate the mobile Web tooīut there’s a big problem with all this appy clappy mobile fun, it’s killing the Web through fragmentation, both for producers and consumers of information. And it can be great to have wikipedia in your pocket to settle arguments down the pub. I love nerdily scanning barcodes to read Amazon book reviews while browsing the shelves in bookshops, much to Tim Waterstone’s annoyance.
Using location based services like Google Maps is fantastic, on foot, bike or in the car. As an incurable information junkie, having access to news is on the move is great. This love affair is taken to a new level with the advent of the mobile Web. I’ve been smitten with the Web since first venturing out on the information superhighway back in the nineties. What can be done about it? I’m in love with the mobile Web I love the convenience of mobile applications but hate the way they re-invent the wheel and are killing the Web.
The App Trap: Why have just one Web App when you can have hundreds of mobile Apps? A selection of popular Android apps from Google Play, also available for iPad and iPhone from the Apple App Store