Comments on: iPhone App Store: The Surprise of 2008 http://www.cloudfour.com/iphone-app-store-the-surprise-of-2008/ Expert Web and Mobile Design, Development and Strategy Mon, 01 Mar 2010 02:56:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Carriers, App Store and Mobile Web: Six Factors for App Distribution Success « Cloud Four http://www.cloudfour.com/iphone-app-store-the-surprise-of-2008/comment-page-1/#comment-6267 Carriers, App Store and Mobile Web: Six Factors for App Distribution Success « Cloud Four Tue, 28 Jul 2009 20:14:44 +0000 http://www.cloudfour.com/?p=129#comment-6267 [...] Last January, I wrote about how the iPhone App Store was the surprise story of 2008. [...] [...] Last January, I wrote about how the iPhone App Store was the surprise story of 2008. [...]

]]> By: <img src='http://www.cloudfour.com/wp-content/plugins/rpx/images/openid.png'/> Jason Grigsby http://www.cloudfour.com/iphone-app-store-the-surprise-of-2008/comment-page-1/#comment-3499 Jason Grigsby Fri, 23 Jan 2009 05:46:53 +0000 http://www.cloudfour.com/?p=129#comment-3499 @scott I agree that performance and connectivity is part of the explanation. I plan on writing more about them soon. Short version: they are factors, but not all native apps are faster (NetNewsWire vs. News Gator's iPhone interface) and mobile web applications can be written to have utility when the off network, but developers often don't do so. I'm actually a little more interested in the rapid change in business model and development processes. Those seem like more significant shifts in philosophy. Thanks for commenting. @scott I agree that performance and connectivity is part of the explanation. I plan on writing more about them soon.

Short version: they are factors, but not all native apps are faster (NetNewsWire vs. News Gator’s iPhone interface) and mobile web applications can be written to have utility when the off network, but developers often don’t do so.

I’m actually a little more interested in the rapid change in business model and development processes. Those seem like more significant shifts in philosophy.

Thanks for commenting.

]]> By: Scott Becker http://www.cloudfour.com/iphone-app-store-the-surprise-of-2008/comment-page-1/#comment-3498 Scott Becker Fri, 23 Jan 2009 05:17:36 +0000 http://www.cloudfour.com/?p=129#comment-3498 I think the astounding success of the App Store has a lot to do with the poor user experience of web apps on the iPhone, as compared to web apps on a desktop machine. On a desktop machine, most of the things a typical user does can be done in a web browser, and the user experience is fast and responsive. On the iPhone web-based apps are very slow, and even for web apps that attempt to use AJAX to speed things up, there is a noticeable lag between the time you click something and the time it responds. Native apps are fast and can access features of the phone that the browser can't. If future versions of the iPhone web browser speed up and becomes a decent platform for apps that can run with desktop-like speed, the popularity of native apps could diminish. Another factor is that on a desktop (or laptop) machine, you can generally expect to have a consistent connection to the internet. So you can start to depend on that, and start using the browser for things like email, word processing, spreadsheets, and other formerly-desktop-only things. I think the same thing will happen all over again as phones improve, connection speeds get better, etc. I think the astounding success of the App Store has a lot to do with the poor user experience of web apps on the iPhone, as compared to web apps on a desktop machine. On a desktop machine, most of the things a typical user does can be done in a web browser, and the user experience is fast and responsive. On the iPhone web-based apps are very slow, and even for web apps that attempt to use AJAX to speed things up, there is a noticeable lag between the time you click something and the time it responds. Native apps are fast and can access features of the phone that the browser can’t. If future versions of the iPhone web browser speed up and becomes a decent platform for apps that can run with desktop-like speed, the popularity of native apps could diminish.

Another factor is that on a desktop (or laptop) machine, you can generally expect to have a consistent connection to the internet. So you can start to depend on that, and start using the browser for things like email, word processing, spreadsheets, and other formerly-desktop-only things. I think the same thing will happen all over again as phones improve, connection speeds get better, etc.

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