One of the first signs I noticed of this was startups we funded not caring much what their domain name was. IIRC that trend began about a year to 18 months ago.
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Mobile shift: You’ve probably underestimated just how big this is
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Re: Mobile shift: You’ve probably underestimated just how big this is
#12One of the first signs I noticed of this was startups we funded not caring much what their domain name was. IIRC that trend began about a year to 18 months ago.
I wonder how mobile web fits into this. Sure, native apps are great, but I'd much prefer to not need to switch between a bunch of native apps and just use my phone's web browser.
Mobile web apps like Facebook prove that you can build a non-trivial app that runs in a web browser and have the experience be so good that people don't even care about the native app version (at least everyone I know just uses Facebook right from their mobile web browser).
A good domain name is still valuable. This is more true especially as more access to phone hardware gets opened up to JavaScript APIs right from the browser. You just can't beat making a change to your app on your server and having all your users get new versions the next time they visit. It's way better than waiting weeks for Apple to review and approve your changes.
Re: Mobile shift: You’ve probably underestimated just how big this is
#13One of the first signs I noticed of this was startups we funded not caring much what their domain name was. IIRC that trend began about a year to 18 months ago.
Paul, what are your thoughts on premium domain pricing? Are the days of super premium prices over?
Re: Mobile shift: You’ve probably underestimated just how big this is
#14I find this trend disturbing. This is essentially the opposite of what happened in the 90s during the mass migration from curated networking experiences like AOL and CompuServe towards the unfettered Internet. Now, people are willingly eschewing the open web in favor of, in the case of iOS, walled gardens. And unless this is reversed, it portends a dismal future for the Internet.
Also you're confusing "the internet" with "the web" I think. Most mobile apps are internet backed. Even the games these days all tie into "openfient" for global scoreboarding and acheivment tracking. And most big sites like google reader and facebook offer a mobile app for a better user experience but all the data comes from the internet.
The internet is going now where and this won't hurt it at all.
As for the web, the subset of the internet that is about passing webpages around? Well, maybe it will be bad for it. And possibly that's not a bad thing. There are pros and cons.
Re: Mobile shift: You’ve probably underestimated just how big this is
#15I find this trend disturbing. This is essentially the opposite of what happened in the 90s during the mass migration from curated networking experiences like AOL and CompuServe towards the unfettered Internet. Now, people are willingly eschewing the open web in favor of, in the case of iOS, walled gardens. And unless this is reversed, it portends a dismal future for the Internet.
We're still trying to find the balance of local and cloud. Desktop apps were great in the 90s because they leverage the local machine's speed and hardware (there weren't any mp3 or jukebox webapps in the 90s, games etc). But as the browser and web got more powerful and we started moving around more and having more computers (work, laptop, home) the centrality of "the cloud" because a selling point and for many applic…
We're still trying to find the balance of local and cloud.
History tells us that this "balance" is a mirage. It's a see-saw with a foundation based on thick vs. thin clients, i.e. where the horsepower is located.
Re: Mobile shift: You’ve probably underestimated just how big this is
#16This is a pretty bold premise; I think mobile web consumption probably represents a pretty large fraction of those minutes. Having a web app that works well both for desktop and mobile seems more important than a native mobile app, to me.
I prefer web services that link software on various apps across various devices which cache and sync content. The best example is probably Kindle which has a hardware device, various mobile apps and web based reader.
Re: Mobile shift: You’ve probably underestimated just how big this is
#17I think it's important to keep something straight here.
If you are going for the consumer market and some parts of the B2B market then yes mobile will keep advancing.
But you aren't going to do the design, programming, your taxes or any other labor intensive work or creation on your mobile.
So yes we probably underestimate it, but if we believe in that, then we are most probably also underestimating how much both desktop apps and web apps are going to matter many years ahead of us.
Re: Mobile shift: You’ve probably underestimated just how big this is
#18I find this trend disturbing. This is essentially the opposite of what happened in the 90s during the mass migration from curated networking experiences like AOL and CompuServe towards the unfettered Internet. Now, people are willingly eschewing the open web in favor of, in the case of iOS, walled gardens. And unless this is reversed, it portends a dismal future for the Internet.
We're still trying to find the balance of local and cloud. Desktop apps were great in the 90s because they leverage the local machine's speed and hardware (there weren't any mp3 or jukebox webapps in the 90s, games etc). But as the browser and web got more powerful and we started moving around more and having more computers (work, laptop, home) the centrality of "the cloud" because a selling point and for many applic…
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Re: Mobile shift: You’ve probably underestimated just how big this is
#19Comparing "web sites" at large to "mobile apps" is an unfair comparison. In addition to being able to get online through native mobile apps, smart phones also count for page views on regular sites as much as any desktop does. Also, most serious web app programmers out there also have a mobile version of their web site available, so I don't buy the whole give-up-on-standard-web-apps-and-go-for-native-mobile-apps argum…
I don't think it's about giving up on standards in favor of native in an either-or kind of way.
If you're building an app nowadays, ideally you'd have a web, mobile web, iOS and Android version at launch. Because you want distribution and need to go where your users are.
Thing is, the web is very crowded so it's hard to get attention whereas relatively, it's still wide open when it comes to the native app galleries.
Re: Mobile shift: You’ve probably underestimated just how big this is
#20Correct me if I am wrong but I thought mobile apps aren't an alternative to the web?
Do they mean mobile apps vs. desktop Internet use? That would make more sense.