{"id":26170,"date":"2016-06-06T20:23:45","date_gmt":"2016-06-06T18:23:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/?p=26170"},"modified":"2016-06-06T20:23:45","modified_gmt":"2016-06-06T18:23:45","slug":"on-the-future-of-apps-and-mobile-web","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2016\/06\/06\/on-the-future-of-apps-and-mobile-web\/","title":{"rendered":"On the future of apps and mobile web"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It’s been a while since I expressed my point of view on the apps and the mobile web. \u00a0(It hadn’t changed much though.) \u00a0While reading through the “Why Britain banned mobile apps<\/a>” article, I caught myself nodding my head in agreement.<\/p>\n

So why did the GDS ban apps? It wasn\u2019t because they weren\u2019t technically savvy enough to build them.<\/p>\n

Cost, he says. Apps are \u201cvery expensive to produce, and they\u2019re very very expensive to maintain because you have to keep updating them when there are software changes,\u201d Terrett says. \u201cI would say if you times that by 300, you\u2019re suddenly talking about a huge team people and a ton of money to maintain that ecosystem\u201d.<\/p>\n

How did the UK reach an increasingly mobile population? Responsive websites, he replies. \u201cFor government services that we were providing, the web is a far far better way\u2026 and still works on mobile.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sites can adapt to any screen size, work on all devices, and are open to everyone to use regardless of their device. \u201cIf you believe in the open internet that will always win,\u201d he says. And they\u2019re much cheaper to maintain, he adds, because when an upgrade is required, only one platform needs recoding.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think that the initial boom of mobile apps was caused by two major factors:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Native applications had much better capabilities – user interface, performance, features, offline mode, etc – than their web counterparts. \u00a0Mobile browsers used to suck big time.<\/li>\n
  2. The competition in the app market was much smaller than the competition for the “first page of Google”.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    These two reasons were significant enough for a whole lot of people to go into the mobile application development. \u00a0So much so indeed that a whole new industry appeared.<\/p>\n

    But I never thought this would be permanent. \u00a0Unless, of course, there would be other reasons. \u00a0Which I don’t see. \u00a0And both of those reasons aren’t valid (to the most part) today.<\/p>\n

    Smartphones got smarter, stronger, and faster. \u00a0Mobile browsers improved a whole lot. \u00a0So unless you are doing something really pixel perfect or resource intensive (like some of the games), the mobile browser is more than enough for you.<\/p>\n

    And look at the competition in the app markets! \u00a0There’s like a hundred apps for whatever is that you want. \u00a0Endless lists of recommended, featured, and sponsored apps for ever growing list of app categories. \u00a0No matter what your app does – there are a few dozen of others that do the same exact thing.<\/p>\n

    If you absolutely definitely have to build a mobile app, don’t start with the native one straight away. \u00a0Do the hybrid one first. \u00a0Build a web application and package it into the native one with something like Apache Cordova<\/a>. \u00a0This will save you tonnes and tonnes of time, money, and pulled out hair. \u00a0(I learned this the hard way<\/a>!)<\/p>\n

    With all the hype mobile apps have generated in the last few years, they have some momentum. \u00a0They aren’t going to disappear. \u00a0But just because you can build one, doesn’t mean you should. \u00a0Build a web app. \u00a0It’s simpler, faster, and easier. \u00a0It scales better. \u00a0It works better (except for very few edge cases). \u00a0And it will cost you a fraction to support and maintain.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n

    It’s been a while since I expressed my point of view on the apps and the mobile web. \u00a0(It hadn’t changed much though.) \u00a0While reading through the “Why Britain banned mobile apps” article, I caught myself nodding my head in agreement. So why did the GDS ban apps? It wasn\u2019t because they weren\u2019t technically savvy … Continue reading On the future of apps and mobile web<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"On the future of apps and mobile web #mobile #WebWork #WebDev","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,62,1334],"tags":[1141,1330],"keyring_services":[],"class_list":["post-26170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-technology","category-web-work","tag-mobile","tag-web-development"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18495,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2013\/07\/14\/why-mobile-web-apps-are-slow\/","url_meta":{"origin":26170,"position":0},"title":"Why mobile web apps are slow","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"July 14, 2013","format":"link","excerpt":"Why mobile web apps are slow","rel":"","context":"In "All"","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18314,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2013\/06\/04\/jquery-mobile-sites-that-feel-like-apps\/","url_meta":{"origin":26170,"position":1},"title":"jQuery Mobile: Sites That Feel Like Apps","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"June 4, 2013","format":"link","excerpt":"jQuery Mobile: Sites That Feel Like Apps Not much new, but presented nicely...","rel":"","context":"In "All"","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23961,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2015\/04\/23\/flippa-the-1-place-to-buy-and-sell-websites-domains-and-mobile-apps\/","url_meta":{"origin":26170,"position":2},"title":"Flippa – the #1 place to buy and sell websites, domains and mobile apps","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"April 23, 2015","format":"link","excerpt":"Flippa - the #1 place to buy and sell websites, domains and mobile apps","rel":"","context":"In "All"","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18808,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2013\/11\/19\/google-pushing-mobile-first\/","url_meta":{"origin":26170,"position":3},"title":"Google pushing Mobile First","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"November 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I've heard \"Mobile First!\" a gadzillion times by now, but I've never took it too literally, and I don't remember seeing anyone else who did. \u00a0Google Operating System blog however suggest that Google does. 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