How the Mobile Web Will Win

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With Android and other devices eroding the once monolithic iOS mobile app market, many developers face the costly prospect of developing for multiple mobile platforms. This in-turn has led to a resurgence of the web vs. native debate that VentureBeat editor-in-chief Matt Marshall clearly outlined in a post several days ago.

The debate is personal for me, since I created the open source mobile web application development framework SproutCore while on the MobileMe team at Apple, a framework that lets you build mobile web apps that have many of the benefits and none of the problems of platform-specific apps.

So I'm here today to say that the debate is over: The web will win, but it won't be the web of 2005. The iPhone and other mobile devices have forever changed the way users perceive software. iPhone apps have a user interface you can touch. They use hardware acceleration. They work offline.

Traditional web apps do none of this – which is why you see so many developers gravitating towards native technologies today despite the fact that mobile web browsers are also some of the most powerful the world has ever seen.

The problem isn't the browser; it's the apps. Most web apps in existence today were designed for a PC era. They were built for a world of mice, high speed internet, and legacy web browsers (like IE6). Mobile devices are just the opposite; touch-based with powerful web browsers, but often used on slow and unreliable 3G.

This change in context is dramatic. Some things that were fast now seem slow.  Other things that were impossible are now easy. Even newer web apps, built using techniques that were cutting edge three years ago today, feel old and obsolete when compared to what today's technology makes possible.

We need to build a new web experience that embraces all the benefits of native without trying to copy it: touch and gesture-driven interface, lightning  fast speed, integration with next-generation web browsers. And we need to improve upon the native experience and build in functionality that makes true multi-device deployment possible: persistent data store, automatic data synchronization across platforms, easy deployment to multiple devices, built-in discoverability and the ability to work off-line.

Today's mobile app developers are faced with two bad choices: 1) They can either build native apps, which are increasingly expensive and hard to manage due to the proliferation of mobile platforms in the market. 2) They can use today's web development approaches, which basically force them to try to mimic the native experience in a way that doesn't deliver a positive consumer experience.

But, as I've said, there's also SproutCore, the first web application development framework available today that lets you build web apps that deliver the user experience typically associated with native apps. At my new company – Strobe Inc. – we have a team of developers with a long history of building easy-to-use web platforms, like Ruby on Rails, who are now actively enhancing SproutCore to make it easier to use, more powerful, and available on more platforms.

We have a long way to go until the web sees its final victory. The next few years will be a wild ride for developers and users alike. SproutCore is a solid start on this vision and the best way available today to place your bet on the web to win.

Charles Jolley is a co-founder and CEO of Strobe, a software and cloud services company focused on the mobile web. He is also the creator of the SproutCore open source framework. Before founding Strobe, Charles was responsible for MobileMe application development at Apple.

Tags: mobile web, native apps, SproutCore

People: Charles Jolley

By AMY WALLACE 19 Apr, 2011

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Flickr Data Suggests Apple’s Next Victim Is the Point-And-Shoot

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The iPhone 4 is about to become the most popular camera used on Flickr, while traditional point-and-shoot cameras are experiencing a sure and steady decline, according to newly released data. The numbers are a good indication that the iPhone is far from done disrupting markets.

By AMY WALLACE 19 Apr, 2011

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Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=c7647285ec39f8612e08f34cd469925d
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E.U. to Review Mobile Operators' Policies on Web Access

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Neelie Kroes, the European telecommunications commissioner, will ask an advisory panel of national regulators to examine whether mobile operators are treating all data traffic equally.

By AMY WALLACE 19 Apr, 2011

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Microsoft Tries to Get Collaborative in the Cloud With Office 365

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Microsoft has launched the public beta of Office 365, an online suite of collaboration and office tools aimed at small businesses. It includes access to Office Web Apps, plus access to hosted versions of SharePoint Online, Exchange Online, and Lync Online.

By AMY WALLACE 19 Apr, 2011

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Molycorp Buys Up Another Rare Earth Firm

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Rare earth mining company Molycorp has made another acquisition, and yes, its shares are even higher than when we last covered the company earlier this month. Molycorp has acquired Santoku America, based in Tolleson, Ariz., from Japanese firm Santoku Corporation, for $17.5 million.

By AMY WALLACE 19 Apr, 2011

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The Dilemma That Twitter Has Given New Startups

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A fundamental problem between third-party Twitter clients and Twitter itself is that the client owns its own interface and Twitter has to negotiate with that client to make money from its own users. This is a difficult situation for Twitter to find itself in, especially when it so badly needs those third parties, who help it to retain existing users and bring new ones in.

The situation could be worse. What if a third-party client was also capturing user email addresses on the side and porting users over to its own service over time under its own brand? It's possible the third party could redefine that product as something new and different from the original and take that user base away. 160 characters anyone?

This may be why Twitter has stopped third-party developers creating new full-service clients and wants them to build helpful add-ons instead. However, what if you, as a third party, then build a helpful add-on that becomes lucrative and Twitter decides it wants that revenue channel? Do you hope that Twitter does a deal with you? What if Twitter took a flat 30% of that channel? You could probably live with that and structure your company around it. But what happens if you develop an additional source of revenue that is a bi-product of your relationship with the Twitterverse but can be defined as a separate product? Does Twitter also get 30% of that? It's certainly negotiable, but the boundaries are not clear. Many questions arise, and I haven't even mentioned the potential for financial wizardry in seemingly reducing profits by defining them as expenses.

This isn't just a problem for Twitter-related startups but for all established and developing startups. Even within Facebook and Zynga's successful union there have been troubled times, as entrepreneur and investor Chris Dixon described in a recent blog post. Entrepreneur Steve Klabnik, one of the people impacted by Twitter's decision to put a stop to full-service clients, stated, "Any software that's owned by one entity, corporate or not, is open to the possibility of being abused." Steve and friends have had to pivot their business and instead create http://rstat.us/, which clones the basic functionality of Twitter.

As a new startup looking at this situation, you wonder what to do. Twitter was the lantern bearer for API development, and everybody jumped in. Many have now got burned. We take a risk building on someone else's API, but we also need to define the rules for our own services. No-one wants to turn around to a developer in the future and say, "We are going to build a competing service to you. Thanks for bringing us lots of users and giving us a great interface to copy but … you are not one of us, bye. P.S. we are also cutting your API calls per user from 100 to 1."

The API game has only just begun, the rules are not well defined and we are likely to see a great deal of evolution and maybe even a re-defining or merging of company balance sheets. Twitter as a larger organization cannot match the zeal of entrepreneurial third-party developers, but it could define the relationship however it wants. For example, by default, everyone building on its API has to be in joint venture agreement with open accounting. Twitter then also has the right to sit on the board of that company if it chooses and can include special buy-out clauses.

Other companies, such as Apple, have chosen to impose a flat 30% fee on API users. It has an established model of commoditized apps with a built-in payment system; however, this not yet a standard model across all companies and, for some, this is not yet possible.

The relationship when it comes to software, between a third-party developer and the API owner is unusual and the answer to the problem may also be unusual. Either way, any such answer would make things a lot more comfortable for both sides to get on with their work.

Pardeep Kullar is co-founder of LikeOurselves.com. He graduated from the London School of Economics to pursue a career in technology. He has worked as a developer, an analyst and finally gave up such comfortable roles to go on the startup warpath with LikeOurselves in 2009, to his everlasting regret.

Tags: APIs

Companies: Twitter

People: Pardeep Kullar

By AMY WALLACE 19 Apr, 2011

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Report: HP Creating Own Media Store for WebOS Devices

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Hewlett-Packard will reportedly offer both a music service and movie store for its upcoming TouchPad tablet, due out within the next few month. The music solution will reportedly manage media smartly, by ensuring tracks most likely to be listened to will be stored locally.

By AMY WALLACE 19 Apr, 2011

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Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=540774fc4f346693ffb1b0d6e3cd8a96
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