{"id":2909,"date":"2014-04-22T16:01:50","date_gmt":"2014-04-22T21:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/?p=2909"},"modified":"2014-04-22T16:01:51","modified_gmt":"2014-04-22T21:01:51","slug":"apps-should-be-conduits-for-web-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2014\/04\/22\/apps-should-be-conduits-for-web-services","title":{"rendered":"Apps should be conduits for web services"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beautiful designed apps should be conduits for web services. Or provide some form of \u201cdesktop\u201d capability. Sync is important.<\/p>\n

Brent Simmons<\/a> recently wrote<\/a> of Marco Arment<\/a>:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

You know him from Tumblr, Instapaper, The Magazine, and (coming soon) Overcast.<\/p>\n

You may think of Marco as an iOS developer \u2013 but every single one of those apps is a web service.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This thought process works very well with a presentation John Gruber<\/a> gave at Web 2.0 Expo NY – watch the 10 minute video on Apple and the Open Web<\/a>. He describes Apple as a \u201cht\u201d company: they\u2019ve embraced HTML and HTTP.<\/p>\n

I look at my iPhone and think to myself what apps I use (i.e. have an icon on my screen) that are web apps:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Google Calendar (direct web app, opens a browser window)<\/li>\n
  2. RunKeeper<\/li>\n
  3. Fitbit<\/li>\n
  4. Withings<\/li>\n
  5. Cardiio<\/li>\n
  6. MyFitnessPal<\/li>\n
  7. Chrome<\/li>\n
  8. Mail<\/li>\n
  9. TripIt<\/li>\n
  10. Evernote<\/li>\n
  11. Instapaper<\/li>\n
  12. Kindle<\/li>\n
  13. NewsBlur<\/li>\n
  14. Hello (by Evernote)<\/li>\n
  15. Skype<\/li>\n
  16. Instagram<\/li>\n
  17. Vine<\/li>\n
  18. Rdio<\/li>\n
  19. Spotify<\/li>\n
  20. Google<\/li>\n
  21. Reminders (stock Apple app, wonderful sync at work)<\/li>\n
  22. Safari<\/li>\n
  23. Facebook<\/li>\n
  24. Foursquare<\/li>\n
  25. Twitter<\/li>\n
  26. KakaoTalk<\/li>\n
  27. Line<\/li>\n
  28. Messenger<\/li>\n
  29. Hangouts<\/li>\n
  30. Telegram<\/li>\n
  31. Tweetbot<\/li>\n
  32. Google+<\/li>\n
  33. Dropbox<\/li>\n
  34. 1Password<\/li>\n
  35. Expensify<\/li>\n
  36. MyTeksi<\/li>\n
  37. Uber<\/li>\n
  38. YouTube<\/li>\n
  39. Paper<\/li>\n
  40. Bloomberg<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    What isn\u2019t a web app? Photos (though there is an iCloud Sync that I don\u2019t use – I prefer it going to Dropbox), Camera, most of Apple\u2019s standard apps (of course, FaceTime, Notes, Calendar – they all sync), DocScanner (syncs to Dropbox, but has no web app behind it), Snapseed, Camera+, 360 (has a web component though I never use it). Music\/Podcasts theoretically sync with the web, but again, not my use case. I don\u2019t consider Google Authenticator a web app either though I use it in conjunction with the web. Messages has iMessage but there isn’t a web interface (yet?).<\/p>\n

    We can argue that the messaging apps aren\u2019t really web services. KakaoTalk\/Line have desktop clients. Whatsapp is notoriously mobile-only. Viber\/WeChat seem to be mobile only for me. Telegram leads the way by having a nice Chrome browser plugin. Skype is a desktop app.<\/p>\n

    That makes the majority of my apps that I use, really, web apps. My phone is a conduit to the Internet. This is why I consume data and WiFi.<\/p>\n

    My iPad is not much different – I use it a lot more for reading, and that includes the FT (fully HTML5 web + mobile app), WSJ, NYTimes, New Yorker, The Economist. OK, there\u2019s GoodReader, iBooks, Zinio for offline reading too, a lot more magazines, and some office software – the iWork suite (which syncs to iCloud). A cool app like Penultimate (now free after Evernote purchased them – again syncs online).<\/p>\n

    This is the success<\/em>\u00a0metric for an app. No point<\/a> building an application to have a F1 racing timetable (I get that from F1.com or a simple Google search). No point building an application that collects Malay proverbs (I can search for that if I was interested; or if it was the English context, I\u2019d just look up wikiquote).<\/p>\n

    Games seem to be an exception to this, but as I have never played games and don\u2019t intend to start (I don\u2019t grok the mind of a gamer, sorry), I\u2019ll pass on overall commentary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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