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Topic: Apps

Are mobile apps cluttering our networks and attention spans?

Summary: The booming app culture -- which encourages a new generation of Micro-ISVs to build standardized, tested services that can be plugged into enterprise operations everywhere -- is something to be applauded, but it also poses a potential burden as well.

Joe McKendrick

By for Service Oriented |

Are mobile apps cluttering our networks and our attention spans?

That's the question asked by Aaron Weiss in a new post at the Enterprise Efficiency community. He observes that with the rise of apps for iOS and Android, to the point that "the whole app-centric culture is reducing efficiency and adding costs to software development while offering questionable benefit."

Weiss raises an issue we've posed on this Website previously as well: Apps, in a way, represent a step backward, away from the run-everything-anywhere agility of the Web to more proprietary OSes and devices. Why divide developers' limited time and resources to all these different app OSes, when a single Web interface would suffice?  Weiss's take:

"A large category of apps can be described as vessels that simply reformat content from the Web. Smartphones and tablets benefit from simpler layouts, but the technology already exists to deliver this directly from the Web. Mobile Websites are nothing new. There is no need for an “app” that is simply a shell to deliver Web content. In fact, many of these narrow-purpose apps can and should be Web-based applications (particularly built on HTML5) delivered through the browser."

While the booming app culture is something to be applauded -- it encourages a new generation of Micro-ISVs to build standardized, tested services that can be plugged into enterprise operations everywhere -- it also poses a potential burden as well.

As Weiss puts it, the proliferation of apps "means duplicating functionality that may already exist on Websites and redeveloping it for multiple platforms. Sure, iOS may be the dominant platform, but if you ignore Android (and maybe even Windows 8 mobile), potential customers are being missed." Add to that the challenges of inconsistent versioning for software running on smartphones.

Apps built on HTML5 can be used on all modern platforms without the extra development costs, he notes. Plus, this is the ideal of cloud -- "all users are always on the latest version, which reduces support demands."

Topics: Apps, Mobility, Networking, Security, Wi-Fi

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5 comments
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  • Web is too fat

    Web is fat and inefficient. Just look at sizes of web pages and how slowly they are rendered even on the most powerful machines. The dream of writing truly cross-platform apps with HTML5 is just a dream. HTML5 is the new Java. Write once debug everywhere.
    paul2011
    Reply Vote

  • The worm in the Apple

    As someone who has had to create and publish HTML 5 eLearning with synchronised voice-over and video, there's only one software provider that actively prevents you from running full HTML 5 and that's Apple. By restricting the use of the autoplay on the audio and video HTML tags, they force you to wrap your HTML 5 app in their WebView and publish it only through iTunes.

    No, HTML 5 is not a dream. For interactive eLearning it's as efficient as Flash and any module/app I produce will run on any web browser or platform that supports Flash or full HTML 5 - this includes Android, WP7, Win 7, OS/X etc - only Apple's iOS is unable to run full HTML5.
    tonymcs@...
    Reply Vote

  • Internet Connection...

    Crazy as it may seem, on a smartphone, having a data connection, and for HTML 5 apps, a fast connection, is essential. Even more so on tablets, which might be wi-fi only.

    With my laptop PC, if I bring it to work, I am without a network connection, unless I tether it to my smartphone or buy a 3G dongle. The same would go for a tablet. There is no wi-fi and I'm not allowed to plug personal devices into the company network.

    Combine that with a telephone connection that keeps blipping between Edge and 1 bar of 3G, online "apps" aren't a serious proposal. At home, the signal goes between nothing (in my office) to 3 bars of 3G upstairs. It is a bit better, because there I have a Wi-Fi signal for the slow broadband connection (3mbps).

    Local apps can't be beaten in such situations. With Evernote, I make notes and it buffers them up, until I get in range of a network connection, then it sends it out. If I had to wait for the webpage to load before I typed each note, it would be useless.

    Online apps are fine, as long as you can get online and with a decent speed. But they can never beat an app that works offline and pushes/pulls data as and when a connection is available.
    wright_is
    Reply Vote

  • One Key Difference Is Payment

    With the most common App stores, there's a pretty large, well known and reputable company that's managing the point of sale(s) for the consumer as opposed to having to vet the company behind each website manually before you cross your fingers and plug in your credit card and personal info. The consumer also has the benefit (even if only perceived) that the app developer and app itself has already been vetted by Apple, Google, etc. prior to trusting your device and data with it.

    The app developer, in turn, get's space in a virtual storefront rather than having to rely upon consumers stumbling upon their websites, They also get a centralized rating system and other marketing benefits via these app stores. Given the app developers' participation in development for Android/iOS, seems to me they're quite willing to take on the overhead that comes with platform specific app development as a tradeoff for these perks.
    piousmonk
    Reply Vote

  • The Yes / No is Arena Dependent

    For some apps (example Evernote) the answer is a flat No.
    For others it is a resounding Yes.

    I am running into more and more apps that are addons or expand on net content. In some cases; and the number is growing; I need an app to see the lower level of detail or specific detail instead of on the web page, usually where I started. Other times there is no app. A good example is new car shopping. It's on the web, or web and app, or app or... It is very inconsistent and more and more you cannot get all the info in one place.... or app :(

    For productive apps it is generally good. That leaves most as a partial or whole waste of time.
    rhonin
    Reply Vote
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