[LuvULongTime]

Interesting article I stumbled on. The author is the head of a new social media app in which they are struggling to gain downloads for. This prompted them to contemplate the possibility that we have reached peak app. I've kind of wondered about this myself. From the perspective of this particular app, how many more flavours of the same thing can we have? FB, IG, Snap Chat, and Twitter are all slightly different variations of one another. Does the world need yet another social media app? Same goes for a lot of other app categories.

https://medium.com/swlh/nobody-wants..._hsmi=23709056

I also found the comments on the article to be very interesting. A lot of people seem to agree about the peak app theory with some of them even being anti-app and pro-browser (sounds like us crackberrians... lol). Here are some of the comments:

It�s nice to see this actually written down. I keep seeing sites pushing their app on me, and I never want it. I don�t want LinkedIn�s app � and it doesn�t matter whether they�re asking me in an interstitial or a banner. I don�t need it. I don�t want it. It gives me literally nothing vs. the mobile web version that I care about at all, and it costs me something I put a premium value on � space on my phone�s app pages.
Time was, I�d have 10 pages of apps and a dozen folders of random ****. No more. I�ve got two pages of only the stuff that I use on a regular basis, and half of the second page is stuff that�s on the cusp of being deleted because I don�t use it. And I don�t want more. I don�t want an app for something I look at once or twice a week. If I�m not looking at it ten times a day, I don�t want it as an app. And barely even then unless it *has* to be an app.
And sadly, I don�t think games (which is what we�re making) are an exception to this. If a new game isn�t worth the app page real estate, people won�t keep it around. I think for a while, people didn�t know what they wanted out of their phones, and the app economy exploded because people would try just about anything. But folks have settled into their patterns now, and breaking them out of those patterns requires more than just �better� � it requires something that makes their day significantly different.

Another one:

I�m going to risk repeating myself. But for those of us who were around computers in the early 90s the app ecosystem today resembles a lot the �digital magazines� and the paper magazines that came with CDs full of adware, shareware and other sorts of crapware�
It took a while, but eventually everyone realize that nobody wanted native applications, and that the web was so much more convenient and secure and not subject to hardware failure.

Last one:

I am done with apps. I have a basic list of apps that I use on a daily or at least weekly basis. I get rid of the rest. I am even comfortable with the idea of downloading an app once or twice a month when I actually need it. I am not going to keep it just because I might need it some day. I am tired of waking up to 15 notifications from all the apps that are installed on my phone. That is just too much power in the hands of these app developers. Sure I can disable notifications but that also means that I miss out on the actual notifications for which I have the app installed.
Web apps are great. At least on Android. Chrome has reached a stage where web apps can send you notifications. Offer basic functionality offline. And basically behave like a regular app without the headaches that come with it.
Flipkart recently launched such an app for their online store and it has been fabulous. I guess they are also realizing that people are not going to keep apps of 10s of online stores just because they make a purchase on them once in awhile. Things are getting way out of hand!

So my questions to my fellow Crackberrians, do you see a day in the near future when mobile moves primarily to the web the same way the desktop did all those years ago?

And have we reached peak app?

If the answer turns out being yes to both then it greatly helps mobile OS's like Windows 10, Tizen, Sailfish, and our own BB10 in being able to gain wider adoption while hurting the two big incumbents that have used their app stores to gain a competitive advantage.

[bh7171]

God I hope so. Consumers need more than two choices of mobile OS's and the "app" thing is truly absurd. On a desktop you "favorite" frequently used sites. An app, as we all know, is really nothing more. With greater adoption of HTML5 (still picking up steam) expect this chatter to increase. As I have always asked myself and others "how many apps" can one really use? Attrition of apps in the mobile realm will at some point happen.

Z30 wickedness

[Soulstream]

God I hope so. Consumers need more than two choices of mobile OS's and the "app" thing is truly absurd. On a desktop you "favorite" frequently used sites. An app, as we all know, is really nothing more. With greater adoption of HTML5 (still picking up steam) expect this chatter to increase. As I have always asked myself and others "how many apps" can one really use? Attrition of apps in the mobile realm will at some point happen.

Z30 wickedness

It was never about using a million apps, it's about having the choice to use them or not. Not everybody has the same app needs, but on iOS/Android whatever your need is you will find the app. On my old Nexus 5 device, I don't use many apps, but I use some local apps that are not available in BB world.

The ecosystem was never about "ooohhhh, 1 million apps, gotta use them all", but about "I don't need app X right now, but if/when the need arises I know it's there".

[DINGSTER1]

I'm with Soulstream. Ease of availability is also a factor. BB has apps available, but the process to obtain those outside of Amazon and BBW is not worth it to the greater majority of people.

[alan510]

It was never about using a million apps, it's about having the choice to use them or not. Not everybody has the same app needs, but on iOS/Android whatever your need is you will find the app. On my old Nexus 5 device, I don't use many apps, but I use some local apps that are not available in BB world.

The ecosystem was never about "ooohhhh, 1 million apps, gotta use them all", but about "I don't need app X right now, but if/when the need arises I know it's there".

While I understand your point, and partially agree with you, I think the apps have largely been about marketing. Apple's TV ads often feature visuals of cool looking apps that they've accelerated for TV. Their ads often talk about the quality of their app store and the million and a half 'hand-picked apps'. As an aside, I've always wondered who is the person responsible at Apple for hand-picking those thousands of fart apps. (that'll tell you something about where your career is going at Apple. I can just hear it now: Q.'what do you do at Apple?' A.'I hand pick the fart apps'). Even Apple's first ads talked about 'having an app for that'. It masked the fact that their devices couldn't handle lots of websites but it worked in spades from a marketing point of view. And for huge numbers of people that meant not 'wanting' the Netflix app. It meant 'needing' that app, even though it started off as not much more than a link to the website.

Posted via CB10

[SunshineStateFlyer]

It's an interesting point of view and I would agree to it in many ways. Apps can add a lot of convenience for some applications and sometimes they are even standalone. That's where it definitely makes sense to have an app.

I'm all for good apps, especially if they really add value to the application. However, developers seem to push them out just for the sake of doing so sometimes.

We have to see that when the whole app thing came up, responsive web-design wasn't in place, so apps were an important way of making website data accessible for smartphone users.
Today we have whole different picture though. If a website is completely responsive and I can find more information in an easier way than with an app, there's absolutely no point in it.

I'm not saying the age of apps is over, not at all, but developers have to make use of new technologies and the way an app can act as an interface between the smartphone, the user, and the backend. Just throwing out an app that doesn't do anything useful while using up space and resources is not how you can sell it anymore today.

Posted via CB10

[Emaderton3]

This is quite interesting. But, I do think it comes down to the perception of choice. And even if their is a backlash and people are only keeping a handful of useful apps, they probably aren't available for BlackBerry. Sideloading and the other workarounds are not viable options for many people, and they don't always lead to full functionality and can drain the battery prematurely. I still think apps are formatted for much greater convenience than mobile Web pages.

Posted via CB10

[MmmHmm]

God I hope so. Consumers need more than two choices of mobile OS's and the "app" thing is truly absurd. On a desktop you "favorite" frequently used sites. An app, as we all know, is really nothing more. With greater adoption of HTML5 (still picking up steam) expect this chatter to increase. As I have always asked myself and others "how many apps" can one really use? Attrition of apps in the mobile realm will at some point happen.

Z30 wickedness

I'm not sure that consumers need more than two major mobile OS's to choose from. That duopoly exists on consumer PCs and has for a long time without being a problem. Also, the alternative mobile OS's like BB10 don't seem to offer anything truly different by way of features. They seem to just be a slightly different user interface to do the same things. What can you accomplish on a BB10 phone that you can't on an android or iPhone? It's just a slightly different way to present the same information and slightly different methods for the user to do the same thing. No major loss to consumers if the minor players went away. The availability of launchers on android also gives consumers a lot of choice on the user interface front. In my experience (yes this is anecdotal) smartphone consumers seem generally content with the choice between Android and iOS. They have very solid offerings at every conceivable price point with huge ecosystems.

Also, I don't think native app development will switch over to universal web-like apps anytime soon, although I don't doubt that people are slowing down on app consumption in general - native or otherwise. There is too much interaction between hardware and software on mobile devices and mobile hardware advances fast. App developers couldn't make use of things like 3D Touch or fingerprint scanners without native development tools put out along with the release of the new hardware feature. It would take a long time for web standards to be accepted in the industry even for one new hardware/software feature. I don't want Google (and its OEMs) and Apple constrained in innovation by waiting on web standards. When they come up with an idea and produce it, they should push it out to developers right away. That pace of development has driven this industry to innovate and advance faster than any other consumer electronic product category in the modern era. Also, from the consumers' perspective, all major apps are available on both major platforms anyway. There is no apparent benefit to them to use web pages rather than apps that are cheap and easily available in the applicable app store. Small time developers might prefer universal apps, but the app market is maturing and larger companies with deep pockets are now dominating. Successful startups are being bought out by big companies. Those companies have the resources to develop for both platforms and they want to make use of the newest development tools.

[TGR1]

Maybe but it seems more that certain areas are saturated, like social media, or the web page is "good enough". Apps in less served subject areas or with unique features that the website cannot offer likely will have a better measure of success. But the latter is higher hanging fruit.

[the1]

Honestly, I don't think that there will ever be a shortage of things people use to waste time. There will always be a new app coming out that people start to use.

With me, it doesn't matter. I use my phone as purely a communication device. If I need to work, I keep my Venue 11 Pro close to me so I don't have to use scaled down applications with 60% of the functionality.

*going back to the outskirts*

[MikeX74]

God I hope so. Consumers need more than two choices of mobile OS's and the "app" thing is truly absurd. On a desktop you "favorite" frequently used sites. An app, as we all know, is really nothing more. With greater adoption of HTML5 (still picking up steam) expect this chatter to increase. As I have always asked myself and others "how many apps" can one really use? Attrition of apps in the mobile realm will at some point happen.

Z30 wickedness

It seems to me that the majority of consumers are just fine with the two OS system we have now.

[bh7171]

Imagine for a moment how boring life would be with two home design choices, two car brand choices, etc, etc. I have recently realized through a business purchase and my laptop update Microsoft is seriously back in the game with Windows 10. If BlackBerry 10 fades away I'll likely consider a Surface phone on Windows 10.

Z30 wickedness

[TgeekB]

While there is no doubt there is an overabundance of apps out there, choice and variety are good things. Think about how many different foods there are. Should we get rid of all of them but a couple? We don't NEED all of them. Some people in poor countries are forced to only have a couple foods to choose from. I don't think we should wish that on everyone.

[Emaderton3]

While there is no doubt there is an overabundance of apps out there, choice and variety are good things. Think about how many different foods there are. Should we get rid of all of them but a couple? We don't NEED all of them. Some people in poor countries are forced to only have a couple foods to choose from. I don't think we should wish that on everyone.

Too much choice can be harmful and/or distracting. according to some studies. Even Steve Jobs recognized this and wore the same clothes every day. And Facebook guy Mark Z as well.

Posted via CB10

[TgeekB]

Too much choice can be harmful and/or distracting. according to some studies. Even Steve Jobs recognized this and wore the same clothes every day. And Facebook guy Mark Z as well.

Posted via CB10

Doesn't sound like a world I want to live in. Give me choices! Lol.

[LuvULongTime]

While there is no doubt there is an overabundance of apps out there, choice and variety are good things. Think about how many different foods there are. Should we get rid of all of them but a couple? We don't NEED all of them. Some people in poor countries are forced to only have a couple foods to choose from. I don't think we should wish that on everyone.

Choice is great no doubt. But the question is, are we at peak choice? The original article was written by the ceo of a new social media app that apparently got very few downloads. So the choice was there, but it was one that nobody wanted. And also, does the choice need to be in the form of an app? Why not a website?

Posted via CB10

[bidirectional]

The author is the head of a new social media app in which they are struggling to gain downloads for.

There's your problem.

I want Crystal Reports, SAS, Matlab, and T-Splines on my phone. Doesn't seem like any of that is going to happen soon.

[Mithrandrost]

There are a lot of bad apps out there. Also, most mobile websites work very well. You may have needed an app to view site content on your smartphone a couple of years ago, but today you don't.

General, social media apps may be easy to replicate, but get boring quickly. Specific apps, like for banking, health and various "boutique" interests will continue to find their users.

Posted via my Blackberry Classic

[TgeekB]

Choice is great no doubt. But the question is, are we at peak choice? The original article was written by the ceo of a new social media app that apparently got very few downloads. So the choice was there, but it was one that nobody wanted. And also, does the choice need to be in the form of an app? Why not a website?

Posted via CB10

They don't perform the same or integrate with other apps as well as an app can. Some day something will replace apps, just not right now.

[Prem WatsApp]

Interesting article I stumbled on. The author is the head of a new social media app in which they are struggling to gain downloads for. This prompted them to contemplate the possibility that we have reached peak app. I've kind of wondered about this myself. From the perspective of this particular app, how many more flavours of the same thing can we have? FB, IG, Snap Chat, and Twitter are all slightly different variations of one another. Does the world need yet another social media app? Same goes for a lot of other app categories.

https://medium.com/swlh/nobody-wants..._hsmi=23709056

I also found the comments on the article to be very interesting. A lot of people seem to agree about the peak app theory with some of them even being anti-app and pro-browser (sounds like us crackberrians... lol). Here are some of the comments:



Another one:



Last one:



So my questions to my fellow Crackberrians, do you see a day in the near future when mobile moves primarily to the web the same way the desktop did all those years ago?

And have we reached peak app?

If the answer turns out being yes to both then it greatly helps mobile OS's like Windows 10, Tizen, Sailfish, and our own BB10 in being able to gain wider adoption while hurting the two big incumbents that have used their app stores to gain a competitive advantage.

Yes, please. And ad strong browser protection and blocking mechanisms, so WE determine what gets send and tracked... :-D



�   AC/CB - back in black or highway to mobile h*ll? ;-P   �