App Convergence: Web, Mobile, Native Apps

Posted September 29, 2009 by Scott Teger

The state of the mobile industry is in flux.  Things are changing.  Device after device we're seeing a convergence of what applications do, and how they are presented to the end-user.  It's hard not to say that this all started with the introduction of the iPhone, and more importantly the AppStore about a year ago.  The importance is two-fold and obvious; it opened up everyone's eyes on what they can do on a mobile device, and, unless living under a rock, the greater population has been programmed with the word "App" and... while not exactly sure what they are, know they want as many as you can get. ("there's an App for that")

For Average Joe, an "App" is a button they push on their device, and it serves one general purpose.  Joe does not know, or care, if the App runs natively or opens up a mobile web browser.  A great example of this is the popularity of the shortcut icons, marketed as "Apps" which simply open the mobile browser.

The ambiguity of an App, is allowing developers and innovators to "make it up as we go along" - resulting in an ever-evolving cycle that gets better with each pass.

Thanks to the help of device manufacturers and innovations on mobile browsers by Google, Palm, Apple and others, applications have a home running right within the browser - opening up the development of Applications to a wider array of developers (compared to the close confines of native devs, like Java or Apple xcode).  This change allows the larger collective of web developers to focus on working with the tools they know, to innovate creative ideas in the blossoming mobile medium.

On the flip side, Joe knows that if he wants an App, he goes to an "App Store."  While there is ambiguity in what an "App" may be, there is only a handful of App "stores" and this ties up distribution right now to a few sources.  As an App publisher, it forces the hand to create a bulky Native App; when a light, cross platform Web App would do, just to capture the audience (and you cant blame them).

With the manufacturers making devices that capture the essence of both Native and Web Apps from the standpoint of hardware and software, hopefully there is a correction and some great Web Apps start making their way into the spotlight (and even a place in the App stores).

Native Applications will always have a place - but the forecast is calling for a rapidly evolving mobile browser, which is going to yield some incredible, cross device, light weight, low cost, mobile "Apps" which even Average Joe is going to love!