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Google: The Web, Not App Stores, is the Future Of Mobile Development

Which do you believe will dominate mobile development?

  • Native applications

    Votes: 349 72.6%

  • Web applications

    Votes: 89 18.5%

  • Not sure

    Votes: 42 8.7%
  • Total voters
    481
  • Poll closed .
What about the harsh trends of web economics where consumers refuse to pay for anything? The trend that brought us the dot-com bust and the dying newspapers?

The iPhone AppStore (and rivalling new stores) is a salvation for many developers. There's no other place where a developer can charge $0.99 to $4.99 for some useful or interesting consumer software. Before that it was either $20 for a shareware product that few people bought or giving it away for free and praying that the ad revenue would be enough one day.
 
slu said:
u know nothing about software development, but this is going to happen because by standardizing the development platform, everyone wins. It costs companies less to make their software available to a large number of devices and consumers have more choice of devices becuase many of the applications they rely on operate exactly the same way all the time. Standards are a good things for consumers.
Click to expand...

You can go all the way back to Uniface and the other 4GLs to show that doesn't work. Cross platform 'unified' environments are as old as the hills.. and seasoned developers run straight for those hills when they're mentioned.

Java was a halfway reasonable stab at it (even .NET, if I dare mention that here). HTML? It's barely a standard - every browser implements it different, implements different features... plus it's not suitable for all apps.. quite a few can be written in it, but I can think of dozens of things off the top of my head that would be impossible in HTML (On the other side there's also quite a few apps on the app store that are little more than websites with a price attached).

Pretty much the only unified standard that has succeeded in recent years was Flash - and it achieved that by being a proprietary closed system from one manufacturer, so every implementation of it was identical. If these standards and unified environments are so great, I assume you're pushing hard for Apple to implement it? Thought not.

Standards are good things. That doesn't mean everything has to be the same - competition is vitally important to progress, otherwise we'd all still be programming in Cobol. It was only when people broke the 'standard' that things advanced. If Apple had stuck to the 'Standard' and used Symbian/Windows Mobile we wouldn't have the iphone we have today. Sure, I'd like Android to succeed so that people can buy an app once and used it on multiple phones, but I wouldn't want it to become the only phone OS.. that would lead to stagnation.
 
No one should be surprised by his incorrect claims

Google is betting the farm that they will be the center of the Web and all information goes through them.

Their web office is weak, their graphics suite is weak and they are rapidly becoming the digital cartographers for our movements in devices.

They somehow fantasize that YouTube and all audio/video is what makes life fulfilling while finding a restaurant, garage sale, road emergency information and more truly titillating areas of interest.

Hate to break it Google but there are hundreds of application fields that they will never control.
 
Macminiintel said:
I hope not lol, i actually like to have the software stored on my Macs, I couldn't care less if it takes more time to load from a hard disk lol
Click to expand...

To this and other comments that ask "what about off-line". The answer is that HTML based "web stuff" can be stored on the local handheld device.

The technology used to develop the app and the place the app is stored after it is released do not have to be related.

As a simple example haven't yu ever saved a flash anamation to you local hard drive? Same thing here. Thisis what Google is talking about.

One browers can do hardware accerated OpenGL graphics there will be little advantage to "native" apps. Why not use HTML5?

We are not talking about "cloud computing" all he was sayiong was that developers will build cross platform apps. Write onec run anyplace.
 
DELLsFan said:
Given how long it takes to access my files and pictures via Mobile Me ... I should hope the technology is improved (at least for Apple) before this future is realized.
Click to expand...

I'm thinking in the future when speed is not a issue. I don't think its ready now, but the idea of storing files online, or for a example "google docs" using the the web browser to access, create documents online is a benefit to the user because they can access them anywhere. Another example that is online mail (gmail, yahoo mail, hotmail) most of use it & no one complains about it, I think most prefer it. I don't have to install gmail or update a gmail app its all done by google or whoever you use for mail...
 
Macminiintel said:
I dont believe that one bit LOL. How is he going to know whats going to work out best. No one thought accept Apple desktop graphics would catch on, no one thought accept Apple that the iPod would catch on, the Apple-App store is really popular, how can someone say web based apps will do a better job LOL. I use to like Google, but I think they are becoming too greedy and invading unnecessary markets, Stick to being a search engine.

I'll make my own prediction 20 years from now Google will be making toasters and sofas LOL.

Everything critics have said about Apple they have become the most successful in LOL
Click to expand...

Sorry but the word you are trying to say is EXCEPT!

Anyway, I hope everything doesn't go to the cloud. I don't think it will and it would be a long time if so. We are already dependent on technology to the point of completely being crippled if everything goes down, just imagine if everything is online. The government is already trying to control the internet, just let them have their hands on everything computing wise online and that would be one scary situation! :eek:
 
Unless we see a vast standardization of hardware across all vendors, native apps will ALWAYS be better than web apps. Taking advantage of low-level hardware functions is much easier when doing native development.
 
Goona said:
Didn't Apple already try web apps and it failed woefully, who even uses them on their iphones anymore now with native apps.
Click to expand...

I can't believe i just saw something that wasn't blindfully pro apple :eek: from the Apple-goona
 
See Google Gears

Surely Google's plans do not ultimately rest on apps that depend on being connected to the web to work. Many here are assuming this and missing what they have up their sleeve (or not really, it's no big secret):

Google Gears, and offline Gmail
Google's invested a lot in making "web apps" that run in the browser but do not have to be connected to the internet to work, and that store data locally, syncing up with the server when connected. This overcomes some of the biggest drawbacks with the web app model.

As browsers become more powerful and standards-compliant, this will probably become an appealing option for many consumer apps, particularly for mobile devices. Games might be an exception, I don't know. The browser is/as the platform I think is the phrase. ;)
 
longofest said:
Yeah, they're drinking the koolaide.

You definitely have to take these kind of speeches with a grain of salt, as the web is Google's home. But even Google has it's own App store...
Click to expand...

true, because Apple has never made outlandish claims and gone against common sense or the norm. See hardware configurations for new macbook "pro's" :eek:
 
TonyHoyle said:
You can go all the way back to Uniface and the other 4GLs to show that doesn't work. Cross platform 'unified' environments are as old as the hills.. and seasoned developers run straight for those hills when they're mentioned.

Java was a halfway reasonable stab at it (even .NET, if I dare mention that here). HTML? It's barely a standard - every browser implements it different, implements different features... plus it's not suitable for all apps.. quite a few can be written in it, but I can think of dozens of things off the top of my head that would be impossible in HTML (On the other side there's also quite a few apps on the app store that are little more than websites with a price attached).

Pretty much the only unified standard that has succeeded in recent years was Flash - and it achieved that by being a proprietary closed system from one manufacturer, so every implementation of it was identical. If these standards and unified environments are so great, I assume you're pushing hard for Apple to implement it? Thought not.

Standards are good things. That doesn't mean everything has to be the same - competition is vitally important to progress, otherwise we'd all still be programming in Cobol. It was only when people broke the 'standard' that things advanced. If Apple had stuck to the 'Standard' and used Symbian/Windows Mobile we wouldn't have the iphone we have today. Sure, I'd like Android to succeed so that people can buy an app once and used it on multiple phones, but I wouldn't want it to become the only phone OS.. that would lead to stagnation.
Click to expand...

Point taken, but I would argue that what is going on now is different. Devices are now everywhere. Processing power has increased exponentially. And just because the platform is standardized doesn't mean innovation stops. Just because something was not successful in the past doesn't mean it can't be in the future. Apple has proven that.

Developers, good ones anyway, don't care about the platform much. They want to get their application in front of the most amount of users, with the minimum amount of cost. They will go where the money is. Again Apple has proven this with the App Store.

Your example about the phone OS doesn't work. The OS won't matter. It is about being able develop applications that are OS independent. Java has made a huge impact. Java apps are everywhere. Java is a standard in enterprise development where you run multiple operating systems now. But the limitation of Java is the virtual machine. If you can standardize around web technologies, you can still have native performance.

I do appreciate some reasonable discourse. Much better than the usual "Apple Rules" stuff that goes on these days.
 
I don't think that you can generalize this issue. At times native based applications are better and at other times web based applications are better.

I'm not that programming savvy, but I don't think web based application can take full advantage of the hardware of the device. This can be a major problem for game developers and others.
 
Both have their uses.

Web apps are very good at pulling data from around the world and doing many tasks, but standalone apps are still better for a wide variety of things.

Games, interactive maps, media playback, local data manipulation the world isn't 100% wired for wireless internet access yet, so local data is still needed along with a way to manipulate it). These all work better as standalone apps usually.

But web apps can be better at some tasks, especially when you're using web data. Some of the lame App Store apps that are only simple interfaces into already available web data aimed at paying customers who are clueless that the same thing is available for free via Safari already.

Basically, the biggest limitation of web apps is they usually need to be connected to the web to work. That also opens security problems as data is outside the users control.

Local apps are needed to more tightly control access to data and to work offline. I've never seen a really good 'offline' web cache system that allows you to work without the remote server.

The only reason the App Store is so hot right now with developers is that it's easy to make a profit (sell an app, get the cash). Web apps have more complicated ways to make profits (uncertainties of advertising, badly constructed 'rental' or subscription plans that usually are so much better for the business than the customer). And I'd never 'buy' a web app, since it goes away when the company does or when the company decides to stop supporting it (usually when trying to sell the next big app).

It's no surprise that Google likes web apps more, since their main business is advertising.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7A341 Safari/528.16)

As long as high-speed wireless access is always available from all locations, it will work. But that's not going to be the case. Buildings block signals, wireless carriers lag behind in upgrades across their network, and there are just places that people go to that do not have cell access.
 
Brien said:
Unless we see a vast standardization of hardware across all vendors, native apps will ALWAYS be better than web apps. Taking advantage of low-level hardware functions is much easier when doing native development.
Click to expand...

you basically proved the point for web based applications, it eliminates the need for something not only being hardware but OS specific. Web apps have a purpose and are useful in their space. Gaming might not be one of them but there are a lot of applications and resources that could leverage this. the classified environment is one space this would be warrented pending certification and approvals.
 
Does anybody read the thread?

Developing an application with web technologies != must always have internet access!

See: Palm Pre

See HTML5 standards: http://www.w3.org/TR/offline-webapps/

Edit: I can see from the recent responses, the answer is no. The continuation of posts that says this will never work because you don't always have an internet connection makes me weep for this forum. And America.
 
Didn't Apple try the whole the internet apps thing, and it was big bowl of fail.
 
No thanks

I don't trust Web applications nor do I trust the cloud concept. I want full control over my apps and data. I want to own my own apps running on my appliance wether it be a netbook, tablet, laptop, phone or desktop.

I don't like the idea of renting web apps/space either and I believe that most people feel the same way.
 
Michael Belisle said:
Are you sure? I mean, clearly this Javascript fluid dynamics simulator is the future of technical computing.

Note: sarcasm.
Click to expand...

Uhm.. Thanks for that :cool:

hehe I cranked the settings up and it brought Safari to its knees. I had to force quit after waiting 10 minutes. I did not even get the slow javascript warning with option to quit. Nothing like losing 12 tabs to an abhorrent script.

Point taken :p
 
While this should be true, the one limiting factor is bandwidth. It is the future, just not the near future.
 
Seems to me like Google had one success with their search implementation and have been clutching at straws ever since. Sure, some of their other products are nice, like Maps, but for most things they're just almost-rans.

Web apps might be the distant future, but the success of the App store speaks for itself.

Damo
 
internet powerhouse

Google is really pushing to change how we see the internet.
They're trying to make it so consumers are ever more dependent on the services that the internet provides us.
For example, Google's OS, Chrome, is going to be internet based, so it basically runs in a browser like envirnoment.
No local files, because everything gets stored online.
And if the web is going to be the future of mobile development, then it might be so.
Google already has a pretty good development program. (where you can download stuff) App Store is selling really well too.
I don't completely agree that the web based development is going to overtake the App Store, seeing its success and popularity.
But Google is definitely trying to gain enormous power by making consumers dependent upon their services. Google (like facebook) will have access (and in some cases own) the things we upload and place on the Google servers.
For them information=power, and Google has a load of it.
 
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