Interesting article.
The App-ocalypse: Can Web standards make mobile apps obsolete? | Ars Technica
The TL-DR version:
- Smartphone app developers' focus on the largest mobile OS (Android, iOS) make it impossible for small/new mobile OS'es to compete (Windows, Blackberry, etc).
- HTML5 could allow applications to be delivered via the mobile web browser instead of via apps, if new standards/APIs are adopted.
- Apple stands to lose if that happens, Google might gain, others could gain.
What do you think? Mobile computing has developed differently from PC computing, in the latter applications are moving to the web, in the latter standalone apps dominate.
My quick reactions
- To replace apps, webpages would need access to/control of the smartphone - data, resources, camera/mic/other hardware.
- Webpages can't be funneled through an app store that limits the webpage's actions and blocks malicious webpages
- I am pretty comfortable installing an app from the Apple app store, I would never install one from some independent app store (that's where you get Chinese spyware), webpages seem even worse.