Comments on: Sounding The Death Knell For Native Mobile Apps http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2008/02/25/sounding-the-death-knell-for-native-mobile-apps/ Russell Buckley and Carlo Longino on mobile technology. Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:37:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: TM Forum Community - Blogs http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2008/02/25/sounding-the-death-knell-for-native-mobile-apps/#comment-119272 TM Forum Community - Blogs Wed, 02 Apr 2008 00:49:04 +0000 http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2008/02/25/sounding-the-death-knell-for-native-mobile-apps/#comment-119272 [...] the death, to be replaced by a Web-based future? Former Palm and Apple exec Michael Mace thinks so; Carlo Longino agrees. The argument is that the diversity of possible platforms, the difficulty telcos [...] […] the death, to be replaced by a Web-based future? Former Palm and Apple exec Michael Mace thinks so; Carlo Longino agrees. The argument is that the diversity of possible platforms, the difficulty telcos […]

]]> By: Telephony 2.0 » Blog Archive » Web-On-Cell’s API Trojan Horse http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2008/02/25/sounding-the-death-knell-for-native-mobile-apps/#comment-118851 Telephony 2.0 » Blog Archive » Web-On-Cell’s API Trojan Horse Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:31:13 +0000 http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2008/02/25/sounding-the-death-knell-for-native-mobile-apps/#comment-118851 [...] The Telco2 blog is noting similar trends, pointing to a Nokia-targeted developer that shortened its app developer cycle to three weeks by using Web-based development styles. In fact, the whole idea of Web versus native mobile apps seems to be making the rounds in the blogosphere (see: Mobile Applications, RIP and Sounding the Death Knell for Native Mobile Apps). [...] […] The Telco2 blog is noting similar trends, pointing to a Nokia-targeted developer that shortened its app developer cycle to three weeks by using Web-based development styles. In fact, the whole idea of Web versus native mobile apps seems to be making the rounds in the blogosphere (see: Mobile Applications, RIP and Sounding the Death Knell for Native Mobile Apps). […]

]]> By: Giff Gfroerer, i2SMS http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2008/02/25/sounding-the-death-knell-for-native-mobile-apps/#comment-118793 Giff Gfroerer, i2SMS Tue, 26 Feb 2008 13:39:22 +0000 http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2008/02/25/sounding-the-death-knell-for-native-mobile-apps/#comment-118793 Native Apps might be great for the techie or experienced mobile user. But for normobs, it just isn't a viable consumer solution. Normobs will not, for the most part, download anything onto their phones. They can't be bothered by it; they will take what the phone has pre-loaded on it; they have heard the horror stories of downloading viruses; they don't understand how to do it; and once again, they simply don't want to be bothered by it. If it solves an incredible problem, then possibly they will get help in setting one up. But that is the minority. Most native apps are "nice-to-haves" and not "must-haves". If it isn't a "must-have" it won't make it to the masses. Remember, consumers simply want solutions to their problems, not complex technology that may help out here or there. However, often there is a fantastic market for extremely niche apps that have found a way to monetize by only being used by a select group. Therefore, the mobile browser may win the war but there will be many battles continually won by native apps... Native Apps might be great for the techie or experienced mobile user. But for normobs, it just isn’t a viable consumer solution. Normobs will not, for the most part, download anything onto their phones. They can’t be bothered by it; they will take what the phone has pre-loaded on it; they have heard the horror stories of downloading viruses; they don’t understand how to do it; and once again, they simply don’t want to be bothered by it.

If it solves an incredible problem, then possibly they will get help in setting one up. But that is the minority. Most native apps are “nice-to-haves” and not “must-haves”. If it isn’t a “must-have” it won’t make it to the masses. Remember, consumers simply want solutions to their problems, not complex technology that may help out here or there.

However, often there is a fantastic market for extremely niche apps that have found a way to monetize by only being used by a select group. Therefore, the mobile browser may win the war but there will be many battles continually won by native apps…

]]> By: raddedas http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2008/02/25/sounding-the-death-knell-for-native-mobile-apps/#comment-118789 raddedas Tue, 26 Feb 2008 08:52:30 +0000 http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2008/02/25/sounding-the-death-knell-for-native-mobile-apps/#comment-118789 WiFi is a bitch to set up, therefore the web is in and mobile apps are dead. Irrefutable ;) Though with all the caveats of the last paragraph, the central argument isn't without merit. I think perhaps a better way to present it would be without the "death knell" attention grabbing headlines though: what is being said by a number of commentators is that installed apps are too awkward to become general purpose and most people didn't want them anyway (so rather then being dead, they were always just niche), but it's possible that more people might use mobile web-based apps instead, probably in a few years once operators become cheap dumb pipes and various other barriers are overcome. Basically, an exact mirror of what is happening on the desktop but on smaller more awkward screens; the only sense in which mobile apps are dead is that people expected them to take off like the early PCs and then die away eventually outside of their niches, whereas actually they never really took off at all in a mainstream sense because of collective idiocy among the operators and manufacturers. WiFi is a bitch to set up, therefore the web is in and mobile apps are dead. Irrefutable ;) Though with all the caveats of the last paragraph, the central argument isn’t without merit.

I think perhaps a better way to present it would be without the “death knell” attention grabbing headlines though: what is being said by a number of commentators is that installed apps are too awkward to become general purpose and most people didn’t want them anyway (so rather then being dead, they were always just niche), but it’s possible that more people might use mobile web-based apps instead, probably in a few years once operators become cheap dumb pipes and various other barriers are overcome.

Basically, an exact mirror of what is happening on the desktop but on smaller more awkward screens; the only sense in which mobile apps are dead is that people expected them to take off like the early PCs and then die away eventually outside of their niches, whereas actually they never really took off at all in a mainstream sense because of collective idiocy among the operators and manufacturers.

]]> By: FJ!! http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2008/02/25/sounding-the-death-knell-for-native-mobile-apps/#comment-118784 FJ!! Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:17:43 +0000 http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2008/02/25/sounding-the-death-knell-for-native-mobile-apps/#comment-118784 Strange as WML / WMLScript technologies seemed at the time to all the HTML writers out there, the point of that exercise was to do what current mobile webpages cannot: bring native interactivity to the phone. Early WAP technologies were the bastard child of Apple HyperCard and HTML, and useful applets had indeed been made for years using HyperCard. WMLScript was made so that actions on a WML Deck could be embedded into the soft-key menus like first class native actions. It was a terrible fit to the developer market when marketed as Mobile Web when every Web designer expected HTML-lite, and the gutlessness of OMA's decision to not specify hard form factors in their profiles then killed it because nobody could really design a WML Deck application if they didn't know how many soft keys they would actually get to work with on what kind of screen. But it was a real attempt to create 'native like' applications to be downloaded and browsed to over Port 80. It's just that nobody really 'got' that that was the model, including, after the first attempt, OMA itself. Strange as WML / WMLScript technologies seemed at the time to all the HTML writers out there, the point of that exercise was to do what current mobile webpages cannot: bring native interactivity to the phone. Early WAP technologies were the bastard child of Apple HyperCard and HTML, and useful applets had indeed been made for years using HyperCard. WMLScript was made so that actions on a WML Deck could be embedded into the soft-key menus like first class native actions.

It was a terrible fit to the developer market when marketed as Mobile Web when every Web designer expected HTML-lite, and the gutlessness of OMA’s decision to not specify hard form factors in their profiles then killed it because nobody could really design a WML Deck application if they didn’t know how many soft keys they would actually get to work with on what kind of screen. But it was a real attempt to create ‘native like’ applications to be downloaded and browsed to over Port 80. It’s just that nobody really ‘got’ that that was the model, including, after the first attempt, OMA itself.

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