David writing on Signal v. Noise about building mobile version of Basecamp:
We implemented the main progress screen in the iPhone app in first a fully native version, then again in an HTML-backed version.
After a fiddling a bit, the conclusion was clear: There was no discernible difference! Well, except for the fact that it was far quicker to develop the HTML version than the native version.
Count me in for this approach.
Another great one by Mr. Asymco:
My contention is that app time will impact many of these incumbent media and that both the effect and the consequences will be hard to measure in advance or even ex post facto. These new media objects are not measured easily and therefore are flying under the radar of traditional metrics used by the industry. Such absence of reliable measurement is one of the hallmarks of a disruptive shift in industry: You can’t perceive what you can’t measure and you certainly can’t manage it.
Ben Thompson over at stratēchery:
It’s games like Candy Crush Saga – free, with in-app purchase – that are fueling much of that $10 billion. According to App Annie, for the iPhone:– 95 out of the top 100 grossing apps feature in-app purchase
– 79 out of the top 100 grossing apps are free to downloadThe numbers are broadly similar on Android, with an even sharper skewing towards free: 96 out of 100 of the top 100 grossing apps are free to download.
If you are in the business of building anything for users, you must watch this. For those of you who know her “Creating the passionate users” talk, this is an updated version of the theme.
Via @paveldolezal & @davegreiner
Great overview of the topic by JT Mudge for Six Revisions.
Obviously, it’s hard to be objective in this sort of comparison, because some strengths could quickly turn into weaknesses for your given app and vice versa.
Nonetheless, this comparison, at the very least, puts your thinking in the right frame.
It seems very likely to me that there’s something simple and beautiful lurking inside the browser platform that will hit the greatest 80/20 point in software history. But I’ve been thinking that for a decade or more, now.
– Browsers and Apps in 2012, Tim Bray
Well, from my point of view, there will – in foreseeable future – be area of problems that only native apps could solve. In the same way, there is and – in foreseeable future – will be area of problems that web apps solve better than native apps. I personally think the latter area is bigger in terms of money to be made off but it does not matter much as both are huge and growing fast.
And that’s all not speaking about the “gray” area of mutant native apps using some form of browser integration or web apps using hardware API of the mobile device.