Ten apps is all I need • Hacker News Board

Re: Ten apps is all I need

#21

Post by achompas » Wed, Jun 22, 2011, 7:30 PM UTC

dhh wrote: post #4

m0nastic wrote: post #2

I feel like he's missing the point of an ecosystem. It's fine that he only uses a few apps on his phone, and that most other people probably do the same. The problem is that those "few apps" that most other people use aren't the same "few apps" that he uses.

I've heard that mentioned before, but that's not what I'm seeing. I don't use 10 random apps from the App Store. I use the 10 default apps that come with the phone. Except for Twitter, I consider the 3rd party apps to be completely expendable without materially affecting my enjoyment of the phone. From other "just a few apps on a daily basis" users I've seen, they tend to use the default apps as well. It's not a rand…

Except for Twitter...

This is a variation of m0nitaly's point: I would say "except for Instapaper, Reeder, and Twitter..." and Jasber would say "except for Rdio and RunKeeper..."

Even if apps 1-10 are native, I'm hanging onto my iPhone for numbers 11 and 12. The native iOS experience is great, but those two or three non-native apps make it sublime.

Re: Ten apps is all I need

#22

Post by Cherian_Abraham » Wed, Jun 22, 2011, 7:32 PM UTC

N9 is fucked, not just because of the lack of third party devs developing for the MeeGo platform.

As per Engadget, Nokia plans to have N9 on sale on Sept 23, right after the iPhone5 launch and several Android, WebOS and Mango phones that will be released between now and then.

Sounds like bringing Knife to a Gunfight? The processor underneath the N9 is already dated and they think releasing end of third quarter was a sound idea? WTF?

Re: Ten apps is all I need

#23

Post by sant0sk1 » Wed, Jun 22, 2011, 7:35 PM UTC

saturdaysaint wrote: post #14

If "all you need is 10 apps", then the platform is relatively unimportant, and it doesn't matter if you're just distributing someone else's software. Personally, I'd add a few apps to his "must have" list - Kindle, Netflix, Wunderlist, Rdio, Facebook, iTalk (Dropbox-enabled voice recorder), Dropbox, Instacast (high quality podcast app), Downloads, The Economist, VNC software, Audible, ComicZeal... Also, I expect a ro…

+1 on Dropbox, Instacast, and Netflix.

Allow me to add a few of my daily use apps: Instapaper, Reeder, iOctocat, TrackerBot, and Evernote.

Re: Ten apps is all I need

#24

Post by hnsmurf » Wed, Jun 22, 2011, 7:36 PM UTC

The problem is everyone has a different 10 apps they "need" and even if you figure only 1% of apps fall into that category for someone, there's still a lot of value in a platform of 200k apps.

Re: Ten apps is all I need

#25

Post by robenkleene » Wed, Jun 22, 2011, 7:37 PM UTC

It is worth pointing out that this is 37 Signals. Which means, just by dogfood-ing, they get rid of many of the major 3rd party app categories.

Productivity software make up a lot of the most useful 3rd party apps, and 37 Signals makes web productivity software that cover the same territory.

It doesn't mean their point isn't still interesting, it's just good to remember context.

Re: Ten apps is all I need

#26

Post by alex_c » Wed, Jun 22, 2011, 7:37 PM UTC

kenjackson wrote: post #7

This is the exact argument I make to others about why the app long tail is less important than you think. In fact I made the argument here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2664559 You nail the basics as listed above, and have a basic app ecosystem and you're fine. Much like how the web neutralized the desktop OS advantage -- we'll see it happen even faster in mobile.

That is basically what Apple did with the iPhone. There were lots of apps for the other mobile platforms at the time, but the iPhone was simply in a different class.

The problem is that today, you have to come up with something that much better than the iPhone. If a Nokia phone and an iPhone are of comparable quality (which I think has yet to happen), but the iPhone also offers you access to a huge variety of apps, then why would you get the Nokia? It needs to be significantly better in some way.

Re: Ten apps is all I need

#27

Post by antidaily » Wed, Jun 22, 2011, 7:38 PM UTC

To be sure, most people just want facebook, pandora and most especially angry birds. But can I get every episode of Top Chef or the latest Golf Digest on the N9 (or even Android)? I think access to content within iTunes is more compelling than the 200k apps. And it seems to be what Apple is betting on.

Re: Ten apps is all I need

#28

Post by hnsmurf » Wed, Jun 22, 2011, 7:41 PM UTC

Also the notion of using only a few apps doesn't apply to games, which is one of the killer features of smart phones. They are largely meant to be disposable, and you assume you'll be playing new ones periodically. I might keep 7 or 8 utility apps that I frequently use, but I've got a constantly rotating selection of about 1 or 2 games I'll play, and I'm not even much of a gamer.

Re: Ten apps is all I need

#29

Post by icebraining » Wed, Jun 22, 2011, 7:43 PM UTC

revorad wrote: post #15

hernan7 wrote: post #13

Maybe there is a niche for a not-so-smart phone: like a dumb phone, but with a usable web browser. I could live with a phone like that.

I totally agree. A good cheap tablet (weblet?) like that would also be very useful to me.

That was the N800, a few years ago.

Re: Ten apps is all I need

#30

Post by ChrisLTD » Wed, Jun 22, 2011, 7:47 PM UTC

DHH is probably right that most people only use a fraction of apps, and that should mean any phone could succeed versus the iPhone or Android phones. However, I doubt people are rational enough to realize this when they go out to buy their new smartphone.

Even though I only use ~10 apps on my iPhone and iPad, I'd be wary of buying into another platform that didn't offer the same breadth of choice.