Are Mobile Web Apps Dead?
Posted by fling on April 28
http://groups.google.com/group/my-library-general-discussion/browse_thread/thread/14edc502228d5898
I saw this link to a random discussion board yesterday. In it David Mark has written one of the better criticisms of mobile web apps I’ve seen. He starts by calling out the problem:
It seems “applications” that sit atop (usually invalid) Web documents are dead. Even the best JS programmers can’t compete with the worst (proprietary) app developers. It’s not even close to a level playing field.
He is absolutely correct. The time it takes to create one decent mobile web app for only the iPhone can be equal to the time it takes to create that same app natively. Add one additional platform like Android to the mix and your project blows up.
The numbers just don’t add up. (I talked about the costs of native vs web in my Breaking Development presentation)
At pinch/zoom we keep trying to push the limits of what web tech can do and we keep running into walls with no solution in sight. The roadmap for web technologies just isn’t there… yet. That in itself doesn’t scare me as the web is amazing at adapting. What scares me is no one seems to realize just how far behind the web is.
The web of today is like a dyslexic child failing at school. The parents keep refusing to believe that anything could be wrong with their child and blame the teachers instead. You simply cannot address the problem until you realize a problem exists. When it comes to the web no one wants to admit that the web has a terminal disease.
I see Web developers trying desperately to make their documents look/work like native applications. At best, it’s a waste of time. At worst, it’s destructive as overzealous developers step all over browsers’ inherent capabilities and replace them with flaky scripts that ostensibly give them more “control”.
I completely agree. The overhead to learn and use these technologies is a pretty big investment with no guarantee that you will be able to deliver a shippable product at the end of it. At least with native code you know you’ll have something that works. You have control of the conditions. Once you add the web to any app, you begin to lose that control and the viability of the product, schedule and budget.
BUT
I don’t believe we should ever stop trying to push the web further. The web is and always has been the only ubiquitous mobile platform. That has value and should be pursued. But alas investment coin is not going toward building ubiquity it is going to other walled platforms that claim openness. That needs to stop.
every new wave brings with it attention-craving bloggers who will say anything to get aggregated. I see they are out in force with regard to “mobile web sites”.
I love this last point. Mobile is an entirely different medium. It follows different rules than the web as we know it. There are many that don’t get mobile, but like to judge it anyway. They believe that mobile should follow the same principles as the web and will evolve in a same way that the web did ten years ago.
That is pure fantasy.
Assuming that mobile will follow anything that happened with the web is to imply that mobile is ten years behind the web. With a little research one can find that mobile is far more advanced and sophisticated than the web—and it has been for many years.
If anything, mobile of today is 5-10 years ahead of the web.
So in the spirit of my post yesterday what can we do to make the web better? What can we do to help spread the word of the shortcomings of the web and structure the road map for tomorrow?
I for one have a renewed belief that the web can be a viable mobile platform after attending Breaking Development I am looking forward to renewing the conversation at Unplugged in Seattle next month.
See me there, or follow me on Twitter and tell me what you think.