Mobile apps and why they have no future
- Sep 29, 2010
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I love people who make sweeping statements, so why not make one myself?
I first started using a Windows based PC in the 90s after migrating from pure gaming on Commodore computers. The internet released me from waiting for a new edition of a game print magazine which would give me one demo of a game to play at the cost of the magazine.
With the internet, I was blown away by all the free stuff on offer. I could download free game demos, screensavers and even virtual creatures. I had a very realistic virtual tarantula on my desktop for a while (it shows you how I was sucked in by the free internet at the time, as I am terrified of spiders).
The only suffering in those days of the free internet was the time it took to download your free wares, but I was sporting the latest hardware, a 33.6k modem.
Why am I rambling on like an old man you might ask? Well, I see so many similarities between those days and this new revolution that is mobile apps. People are downloading free mobile apps like there is no tomorrow and many have now embraced the fact that paying 99 cents is very tempting for even more functionality. This is much like we saw after the late 90s free internet wave, when suddenly people started to charge for internet services, downloads etc.
So, you have your iPhone and you have loaded it up with many free apps and even some paid ones. I think the first paid app most people buy is Angry Birds, which is... a game. Just look at your iPhone and see how many apps you really use. Personally, the ones I use the most are for news, weather and travel. Why do I need an app for those and, even more importantly, why should I pay for that type of information when it is freely available online?
Even better, what happens when you get fed up with your iPhone for any reason, like you can’t take how slow your 3GS has become after upgrading the operating system. Or you are sick to death of the lack of Flash support, which so many other devices now offer? Maybe you might want to try another device out, like a device which uses Android? Oh, hang on, all those apps you have on your iPhone can’t be transferred. All those apps you bought can’t be transferred. Ever felt locked into a mobile contract? How about being locked into one phone?
This is where mobile websites come into full effect for the entrepreneur. Not every brand out there is huge with unlimited resources. We can’t all pay for an app for every device to try and cover all bases. So, what should you do? How can you save yourself having to pay a multiple of what you did for your website? i.e. you have a website built and you know it will, or at least should, work over everyone’s computer.
The answer is simple, you build a mobile website that will work over all mobile devices and even scale nicely on tablets. One website can work over all handhelds and even will be easily viewable on computers.
So, you have one budget for a mobile website and now the whole world can see what you are trying to sell. Also, there is no need to join any of the mobile developer programs and wait to have your app approved, or even better, declined.
Apps are great but in ten year’s time we will look back at them as just another part of the growing up phase of the web, much as we did those free screensavers from the 90s.
Content has and always will be what people want and need and getting that content to them in an easy to access fashion and a free one at that, will always be the way forward. Some news giants talk about making news a pay per view service but there will always be the likes of the BBC who will give news for free. Whilst there is always one important free source for any type of content, the pay per view ethos, whether that be apps or even website membership, will always struggle to get a grip.
The freedom of websites is something Tim Berners Lee laid out for all of us so let’s not let certain companies take away our freedom by placing restrictions on what we want to show the world.
Rob Ford
Rob is the founder of The FWA, a network of sites first established in 2000 showcasing cutting edge web design, photography and mobile content. His network of sites has since received well over 100 million visits and are a daily surfing hotspot for a global audience. He also has two best selling internet books under his belt. You can follow Rob on twitter @fwa.
