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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

#101

Post by nkassis »

cooldeal wrote: post #23

The analysis and the numbers seem to be very misleading. It counts only mobile usage which is a tiny fraction of desktop browsing. StatCounter pegs it at just ~7%. http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_vs_desktop-ww-monthly-2010... What about adding a 3rd metric for how much time the consumers browse on their desktops and laptops? That's going to eclipse the time stated in the article. The reason we're seeing such high a…

I'm thinking that maybe this has nothing to do with mobile web vs native app this could be desktop vs mobile. This post makes it out to be like native apps are gimping the user share from mobile web but I just thinks it's people doing what they used to do on the desktop with their phones.

Re: Mobile shift: You’ve probably underestimated just how big this is

#102

Post by nkassis »

prodigal_erik wrote: post #80
ryandvm wrote: post #3

I 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.

Javascript had already started killing the web. The industry is going to regress to client/server, and whether the platform will be browsers or mobile devices' own window systems is just an implementation detail. The tradeoffs differ, but they both suck compared to addressable content in standardized formats.

I'm not sure I follow you there, the web has always been more than just html content delivered to your browser. I mean now there is even more access to raw data (json/xml based API) less need to build html parsers and try to scrape sites.

Re: Mobile shift: You’ve probably underestimated just how big this is

#103

Post by ypcx »

wvenable wrote: post #46
jbail wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 righ…

> at least everyone I know just uses Facebook right from their mobile web browser Until this exact moment, it never even occurred to me to use Facebook from mobile safari. I just tried it out and it is pretty impressive; it looks (and works) very much like the app but with a slower and less responsive UI. If given the choice, I don't see why anyone would use the web version over the app though.

I suggest that you go and have a look at the reviews of the native Faceebok app both on Android Market and on the FB page of that app. The app basically stopped to work over a month ago. The web app is fine.

Re: Mobile shift: You’ve probably underestimated just how big this is

#104

Post by wvenable »

ypcx wrote: post #103
wvenable wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> at least everyone I know just uses Facebook right from their mobile web browser Until this exact moment, it never even occurred to me to use Facebook from mobile safari. I just tried it out and it is pretty impressive; it looks (and works) very much like the app but with a slower and less responsive UI. If given the choice, I don't see why anyone would use the web version over the app though.

I suggest that you go and have a look at the reviews of the native Faceebok app both on Android Market and on the FB page of that app. The app basically stopped to work over a month ago. The web app is fine.

I have an iPhone

Re: Mobile shift: You’ve probably underestimated just how big this is

#105

Post by rhizome »

nkassis wrote: post #101
cooldeal wrote: post #23

The analysis and the numbers seem to be very misleading. It counts only mobile usage which is a tiny fraction of desktop browsing. StatCounter pegs it at just ~7%. http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_vs_desktop-ww-monthly-2010... What about adding a 3rd metric for how much time the consumers browse on their desktops and laptops? That's going to eclipse the time stated in the article. The reason we're seeing such high a…

I'm thinking that maybe this has nothing to do with mobile web vs native app this could be desktop vs mobile. This post makes it out to be like native apps are gimping the user share from mobile web but I just thinks it's people doing what they used to do on the desktop with their phones.

That's what I was thinking, that this has more to do with more people having web-capable phones than any lack of future for any kind of developer.

Re: Mobile shift: You’ve probably underestimated just how big this is

#106

Post by b1tr0t »

I freely admit I'm on the web side of this issue.

No question that apps are big. But there's a lot of data out there that people regularly used less than 10 apps in the last 30 days. Almost all of those are social or built-in apps. They used a lot more than 10 websites in the past 30 days.

The raw number of apps and websites available is a complete red herring. Mobile apps have existed (in a numerically significant form) for We discussed this a while back in a blog post based on other data from Flurry. Also discussed by Skyfire.

Mobify post: http://blog.mobify.com/2011/06/23/have-apps-really-passed-mo...

Skyfire post: http://www.businessinsider.com/why-flurry-got-it-wrong-on-ap...

Ed: fixed link.

Re: Mobile shift: You’ve probably underestimated just how big this is

#107

Post by svdad »

swalsh wrote: post #31
shareme wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You assume of course that there will never be a device powerful enough to match desktop. Should I remind you that the chip in the that SIm card is in fact the same cpu chip that was used in Apple IIs? In next ten years you will see design,programming, etc done on tablets

I think a large part of it is also form factor. My phone could have the power of 3 super computers, but i'd still choose my laptop over it. I prefer a larger screen, and a real keyboard. For a mobile device to replace my desktop/laptop user interfaces + form factors are going to need some rapid advances.

I agree with the form factor issue, but an iPad with a Thunderbolt port would basically take care of it. OK, might need a little more graphics hardware on the iPad to drive a big monitor, but that can't be far off.

Re: Mobile shift: You’ve probably underestimated just how big this is

#108

Post by wavephorm »

aneth wrote: post #21

Over a billion mobile only users will likely come online in emerging markets over the next ten years. Many of those will be in India, where RIM is actually growing like crazy. I anticipate Windows on Nokia will be a serious player, and Android phones will drop to prices the masses can afford. The race is not over and the "mobile web" may yet turn out to be the dominant platform.

I am in a position to boldly predict a new startup will emerge with what will eventually become the dominant mobile web platform.

Re: Mobile shift: You’ve probably underestimated just how big this is

#110

Post by slaven »

jbail wrote: post #91
angrycoder wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you made an "app browser" that allowed better searching (type the first letter and the app appears --- tap to open it) The iPhone has this. Just swipe right on the home screen. > and easy navigation between apps On the iPhone, double tap the home button and you get a taskbar of your running apps. > Why couldn't Apple allow mobile web apps to be sold in the app store? It's an icon that opens a web page. It could…

Good points on iPhone. I've used PhoneGap and it's great, but that's not exactly what I'm getting at. I'm thinking of a mobile web app that doesn't have to live inside a webview wrapper. This could happen someday when the OS provides a JavaScript API for accessing camera, gps, etc --- and could use the html manifest as a means for "downloading" the app. This would, in my ideal dream world, also allow the app publishe…

You can save any website to the Home screen as an icon, and you can even remove Safari chrome from it. You're just giving up app discovery through App Store.
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