Former Mozilla evangelist Christian Heilmann argues that creating iOS and Android apps slows the development of new experiences – and we should stand up for an open alternative
Apps are consumed by us, the users, across many of our devices. They do a good job of directing us to focused content; a single source of the information we need on a single topic. With the rise of smart devices, arguments that apps are a ‘web killer’ have increased. Developers have also flocked to native app development as they see the monetary rewards that creating a successful app can bring.
However, are native apps really the best platform for developer innovation or user experience? In this article, I will argue that the web remains the best platform for app development: not only for users but also for developers who want to push technical boundaries.
UNLOCKING THE MARKET
The app ecosystem is often interpreted as a closed market, dominated by a few key stores, such as Apple’s App Store and Google Play. This has meant that developers have had to build native apps for closed ecosystems. But the business model for closed systems – those designed for a specific hardware platform – is fundamentally flawed.
Rather than enabling the user to control their own experience, just as the web does, native apps are made to lock users in. They may lock us into a hardware model, meaning we don’t have access to all of the functionality we want. They may make us consistently update our software or upgrade to the newest smartphone to get the latest content. Rather than deliver an innovative experience, native apps limit it.
That is why the launch of the first Firefox OS device in 2013 marked a significant milestone for the mobile industry, since it enabled apps to be created to totally open web standards.
Standards-based technologies, including HTML5 and CSS3, make it possible for web apps to run on pretty much any platform via a modern, standards-compliant browser. Web apps are adaptive and responsive, affording developers with more time to innovate as less time is required to learn new coding skills or ‘wrap’ an app for delivery in a native environment.
Ultimately, the web is an open platform for innovation, for all. Unlike closed technologies, an app ecosystem based on the web will never die, or cease to be relevant.
CANDY-COATED WEB
It’s true that apps can be useful. Rather than typing a long address into a web browser, you’re guided directly to the content you’re searching for. Because of this, some called the rise of the app the ‘dawn of the internet’ – one icon, one click and a slick interface appears.
And apps can be cool. From Angry Birds to Candy Crush and Flappy Bird, we have entertainment at our fingers. We can collect badges, share our scores on Facebook, or link our photos to Instagram.
But what is it about the apps themselves that is useful or cool? Are they not just ‘candy-coated web’ – giving you information that is already available through your browser? And what it is it about them that is innovative? Most people don’t install popular apps because they are great software, but because of the number of other subscribers. Users themselves have been commoditised.
Most apps are constantly updating, yet never really innovating. And frequently, we don’t really understand the implications of these updates. For example, if you hit Update App, will the software suddenly give itself the right to access the photos or contacts on your phone and use them in any way the developer sees fit?
Often, we don’t have any insight into what apps, and the companies behind them, want to do with our information. We cannot look under the hood, and we cannot stop these things from happening.
But why shouldn’t users simply be able to restrict or grant app permissions whenever they wish? Could it be that we are currently in the midst of a Tamagotchi-style native app hysteria? The similarities are uncanny – apps ask us to feed them, play with them, and when we can’t be bothered any more, they end up in the corner of the room collecting dust. How many apps do you have on your phone, and how many do you actually use?
STIFLING INNOVATION
Because native apps are a self-serving business model, they are not conducive to innovation. In fact, they restrict it. The interoperability that once made the internet so exciting rarely works within a native app. To succeed, apps and the businesses behind them have to be greedy. They have to keep you locked in, meaning that they often don’t talk to other apps, unless they are simply too popular to ignore. You are the product inside the product.
Native apps make it difficult to switch from one source of information to another. Rather than being able to switch from YouTube to Wikipedia at the click of a link, we can only view the information they deign to give us.
The mixture of technologies they sit on restricts us too. Imagine you want a new game, but you’re on Android – how many months will you have to wait for it to become available on your operating system? Or perhaps you have an iPhone, but it’s an old iPhone – will the app work as well on your hardware?
Native apps are not innovative. They are like a step back in time to a point when software only came on CDs: when we didn’t know what was on the disc, and we weren’t in control of it.
The web, with its ecosystem of platforms, devices and apps, is not perfect. It could do with more functionality. Sometimes we have 20 tabs open at a time, regardless of whether we actually need them, simply because the browser encourages multitasking.
But the web is decentralised. It’s collaborative, and it’s worldwide. And it’s built on open technologies such as HTML5 – technologies that we can all learn quickly and easily if we chose to.
You can learn to create web apps pretty quickly and easily because they are built in these standards-based technologies. These technologies do not require any special translations, conversions or re-programming. Should you chose to build a web app, it can run or synch across almost any device.
This also means that there is no need to convince developers to create software for a specific platform. Instead, apps created for the most popular platforms will also work on the least popular, assuming that they have decent web browsers. Equally, having an out-of-date web app is virtually impossible. Each time you load a site, you load the latest version, meaning that you don’t have to consistently download updates, draining your battery and data allowance to use the new features.
BE PART OF THE NEW WAVE
It may not be perfect, but the flexible and open nature of the web means that it will remain the platform for technological evolution. Everything you put on it is linked to a worldwide network of computers and television sets, wearables and mobile phones. And the more you use it, the more you stand up for open innovation, declaring that the future will not belong to closed environments that use us as a product.
I challenge developers and users alike to say no to closed environments. By using technologies that support an open ecosystem, we can create a ripple for open standards. As more people join, that ripple will become a wave.