great article! the fact that the same businesses and applications exist on both web and mobile doesn't mean the "web has to do apps". The flexibility you get on a desktop or a laptop cannot compare to the limited UI of the mobile apps. My guess is they'll both co-exist for a while.
Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
81–90 of 315 posts
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#82Also, what we call "mobile" is actually just 2 nice walled gardens with doors called "App Store" and "Play Store".
That's at least another reason why the web is not pervasive on mobile: Apple and Google are quite happy that it's not that way because they can monetize their platforms with far more control than through the browser.
The article references app stores pointing out that they reduced user friction in payments and subscriptions around apps. Of course, under the guise of user experience you can focus your development efforts on native tool chains and not invest in the mobile browser experience.
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#83Two words: Application permissions. Any application I install on the desktop can potentially steal my data and ruin my life. And no, big names like Spotify or Valve don’t offer complete protection either due to supply chain attacks.
Yes, but normies don't really understand or care. The big difference is the "inviting" experience of installing apps on smartphones. Yes search the name and tap "install app".
I believe this is probably the most important difference. Desktop platforms, and particularly Windows, have not historically offered a convenient experience for installing, updating and removing software. Web apps just work. Mobile apps and app stores offer a simpler and much slicker experience than desktops, so there is less need for the easy access that web apps offer.
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#84When iPhone and Android hit the scene the 'rich' web experience was primarily flash, silverlight, and some java applets (taking their last breathe). Input APIs for touch, multitouch and gesture were a mess for many years in the browser. Media queries didn't become a w3c recommendation until 2012 so building a ux that looked pleasant really wasn't possible. The memory, cpu, GPU, storage and battery constraints were un…
> content addressibility I'd say the app ecosystem promotes closed content whereas WWW promotes open content.
What open content? Wikipedia? That's If we're judging whether the Web promotes open content by the actual results after three decades, the exact opposite is the case: the Web promotes closed content.
Netflix, ESPN, Google/Gmail/Maps/News/etc, Microsoft/Bing/Office/mail/etc, NYTimes, Washington Post, USA Today, MSNBC, CNBC, Reuters, AP, CNN, Bloomberg, FoxNews, ABC, CBS, NBC, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, Imgur, eBay, Amazon/Twitch/Prime/etc, Target, Walmart, ETSY, Disney, Viacom, Verizon/Yahoo, Match.com, Quora, PayPal. Along with pretty much all corporate sites and porn sites. Most blogs are privately owned, copyrighted; same with substacks; same with most mailing lists. Most photography on the Web is owned by someone, and captive on a platform. Travel sites/services (Booking, Expedia, etc), review sites/services (Yelp, Trip Advisor, most cooking sites, etc), weather sites, real-estate sites (Realtor.com, Zillow, Apartments.com, etc); ticket sites (Vivid, Stubhub, Ticketmaster, Live Nation) - they're largely in the same box, they're all privately owned, copyrighted content, closed corporate platforms.
Now keep going with that list for most of the next 5,000+ largest sites (with few exceptions like Wikipedia or Stack Exchange).
Nearly everything on the Web is centralized, closed, privately owned, copyrighted content and or platforms. They're all little walled gardens.
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#85Also, what we call "mobile" is actually just 2 nice walled gardens with doors called "App Store" and "Play Store". That's at least another reason why the web is not pervasive on mobile: Apple and Google are quite happy that it's not that way because they can monetize their platforms with far more control than through the browser. The article references app stores pointing out that they reduced user friction in paymen…
That's right. Web standards are spearheaded by Google, while Apple's job is to make sure they don't work on iOS.
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#86Native phone apps are more invasive and can therefore be used for more extensive tracking and spying, which is good for ad revenue. Remember how all the largest spying products like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit, Twitter, etc aggressively push you to install their phone apps even though they are (or were) perfectly usable through their mobile websites.
> Native phone apps are more invasive and can therefore be used for more extensive tracking and spying, which is good for ad revenue. It's probably because the specificiation for native apps is always cooked up by a single company, whereas the web specificiation is always under scrutiny of multiple organizations.
While noble, I think this misses the profit motive and me-too FOMO effect of industry strategy.
Never attribute to purely good engineering and design that which is incentivized by profit.
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#87Also, what we call "mobile" is actually just 2 nice walled gardens with doors called "App Store" and "Play Store". That's at least another reason why the web is not pervasive on mobile: Apple and Google are quite happy that it's not that way because they can monetize their platforms with far more control than through the browser. The article references app stores pointing out that they reduced user friction in paymen…
Yeah, but Microsoft is equally unhappy about windows native software going extinct and being strong armed to use google chrome engine for their edge browser !
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
> content addressibility I'd say the app ecosystem promotes closed content whereas WWW promotes open content.
What open content? Wikipedia? That's If we're judging whether the Web promotes open content by the actual results after three decades, the exact opposite is the case: the Web promotes closed content. Netflix, ESPN, Google/Gmail/Maps/News/etc, Microsoft/Bing/Office/mail/etc, NYTimes, Washington Post, USA Today, MSNBC, CNBC, Reuters, AP, CNN, Bloomberg, FoxNews, ABC, CBS, NBC, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Link…
uhm... everything? "open" as in anyone can make a website and if it's has one good article, it will show up in some google query's result.
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#89Lot of potential theories here. Allow me to offer one of my own: it's our physical posture and ergonomics. When on the desktop, you're usually sitting down in front of a desk after deciding to set aside some time for the express purpose of doing something on a computer. A small wait for the UI to render is tolerable. But when you're on a mobile device, it's usually the the thing you're using to kill time while you're…
> A small wait for the UI to render is tolerable. Absolutely not. In fact, I expect more responsiveness from my desktop.
Agreed, when using my phone I am very frequently waiting for it to do something. Start Google Maps, wait 5 seconds, click the search bar, wait 3 seconds before the keyboard comes up, type a few letters, wait between 0 and 10 seconds for any letters to show up...
It's hilarious when you think about how ludicrously powerful these devices are compared to what we were using 15 years ago that wasn't that sluggish. And of course by hilarious I mean dreadful.
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
> content addressibility I'd say the app ecosystem promotes closed content whereas WWW promotes open content.
What open content? Wikipedia? That's If we're judging whether the Web promotes open content by the actual results after three decades, the exact opposite is the case: the Web promotes closed content. Netflix, ESPN, Google/Gmail/Maps/News/etc, Microsoft/Bing/Office/mail/etc, NYTimes, Washington Post, USA Today, MSNBC, CNBC, Reuters, AP, CNN, Bloomberg, FoxNews, ABC, CBS, NBC, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Link…
Open as in no spyware required.