Show HN: A marketplace for client-side apps

Show HN: A marketplace for client-side apps
eager.io

Why?

What purpose does a marketplace serve for web apps? There is not reason for an app maker to give up revenue to a third-party gatekeeper like Apple or Google and discoverability is best done via what's worked for the almighty hyperlink?

Furthermore, why not use the same exact install metadata file format that Mozilla is already using? https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Apps/Build/Manifest

Hi, I'm one of the cofounders. Without reliability (and security) there's not much point in running this business. Our files are served by the Fastly Global CDN which is used by Twitter, Github, Shopify, and Imgur. Files are built when you make changes, and shipped to a static file host (Amazon S3), meaning your files keep being served even if all of our infrastructure falls of the face of the earth.

We also have procedures in place for doing DNS failover to another CDN provider, should Fastly have issues. We monitor test requests to our infrastructure continuously from hosts around the globe. Feel free to follow our status page for continuous updates: http://status.eager.io/, and contact us with any questions: help@eager.io.

Installing client-side code is pretty difficult right now for non-technical people. You have to know how a script tag works, where to put it, how to host files, etc. There is great software on Github, but 99% of website owners just don't know how to find it. Even the best-in-class platforms like Wordpress lock you into a specific platform.

Most javascript library builders have zero revenue right now. I think that giving them a way to charge for what they do is great, if that's what they wish. Every app is free if that's what its creator chooses.

SaaS businesses which rely on client-side embeds have an uphill battle. It's difficult to get people to install something on their site (for the technical reasons above). We hope that by making it easier we can create an ecosystem where quality apps get found quickly, and generate users and revenue just as fast. We hope that in that world, the cost of customer acquisition will be so much lower that there is room for us to take a cut.

We didn't use the Mozilla format as that's intended for full web apps that run on a platform like FirefoxOS, not libraries which get included in other pages.