Apps are great and addictive, but come to think of it, I think apps are a confusing mesh. Apple has way too many apps on its App Store. Google’s Android is even worse, because from what I heard, Google’s Android platform is very fragmented. Way too many Android users are not updating to the latest version of the Android OS, and so Android app developers don’t really know the exact standards to base their apps on, but incredibly there are way too many apps for Android platform. To make matter worse, several tech news sites report that there are too many duplicate apps or spam apps (i.e., worthless apps) float inside Android’s app marketplace. I’m pretty sure Windows Phone 7 platform will eventually be flooded with too many apps, especially Microsoft is becoming Nokia’s next best friend while we speak.
The problem is not about unable to find the perfect apps, but the problem is that there are way too many apps. The instant gratification of acquiring an app is easily overlooked, and the price of an app is low enough that users won’t be able to temper themselves from a sweet app. Before the users know it, they probably have downloaded way too many apps, but worse that they probably had bought way too many useless apps. Sometimes, many apps boast big, but it turns out the users were duped into buying worthless apps. Of course, many users think a dollar or five dollars worthless app is not worth their time to pursue a complaint, but many cheap worthless apps will eventually add up a bigger sum of cost.
Besides the costs and the little values that many apps dupe users into buying them, more app marketplaces equate to fragmentation volume of apps. By this I mean some good apps can only be found on one marketplace but not on another. This is not how I envision a future of a more harmonic app ecosystem, because right now apps are so fragmented to a point that a user wants to use an app, he or she better be on the right mobile platform or else. I prefer a more harmonic environment where any mobile platform can use the same apps. For now, it seems as if we are living in the past instead of the now or even the future where we have so often wish to envision as a better tomorrow for applications in general; at the moment, really useful apps don’t necessary appear on all app marketplaces — effectively shutting out mobile users who really need such apps. It seems as if each individual app is bounded to a specific fish tank, and each fish tank among variety of them contains incompatible apps.
All in all, I think the Web has a solution all along. Instead of this app and that app for this mobile platform and that mobile platform, isn’t it better for all apps to be made available over the Web? Perhaps, this is why browsers may become evermore important. As we notice, many browsers of today promote standardization. HTML 5 is a perfect example of how browsers will all become very similar in supporting key features of web applications. Still, we probably will never be able to get rid of spam apps and the problem of too many worthless apps that will flood an app ecosystem, but at least the Web can steer app users away from a fish-tank ecosystem of apps.
The non-fish-tank ecosystem of apps is probably an attractive one to app developers, because everything could be standardized and allow app developers to concentrate on developing good apps and not wasting their times in figuring out how to make each app compatible to all mobile platforms. Standardizing an app ecosystem allows app developers to save costs and produce apps faster. Saving costs and rolling out apps faster and making their apps available to all mobile users may translate into bigger bottom lines for many app developers. Even if each browser behaves a little differently, inherently each browser is more similar to each other than in the case of each mobile platform. This speaks huge volume as app developers don’t have to spend greater energy and costs to appease each mobile platform, because it probably will be a lot easier for app developers to smooth out the quirks among the browsers.
Whether it be a smartphone or a tablet or a computer, security will always be important for these hardware platforms. Even if it’s a fish-tank ecosystem of apps, the potential for a nightmarish security situation is still possible. After all, it’s not the hardware platform creators themselves are the ones provide all the apps. As everything goes in this world, there are good people and there are bad people. The same thing can be said about app developers. Either intentionally or unintentionally, bad apps with insecure source codes can provide bugs to be exploited by hackers — eventually may lead to a compromise of a platform by the hackers.
Yes, it maybe that a non-fish-tank ecosystem will have a less secure environment, because besides of making the platforms easier to work with for app developers, it may also make it easier for hackers to concentrate in hacking such platforms. This is why whether it be a fish-tank or non-fish-tank ecosystem, security will always be important in this regard. Still, this cannot be an excuse for not loving a non-fish-tank ecosystem of apps, because the benefits may outweigh the costs. In the end, the users are the ones who will drive the app marketplaces forward. This is why it’s so important to please the users in a way that make all apps more accessible on all platforms (i.e., hardware and software platforms).
Side note: About the argument of Flash will be wiped off the Web by HTML5, I think this scenario might happen, but it might be something else too. Why? Perhaps, we never know that one day Flash can provide better features that are more fitted with app developers if the day of apps are going to be mainly concentrated over the Web, instead of inside a fish-tank ecosystem of apps. Sadly though, it’s rather a wishful thinking on my side somewhat, because Flash is notorious for hogging computing resources — this can lead into shorter battery lifespan for mobile gadgets. Until Flash can provide better management for computing resources and better security environment, I don’t see a good reason for mobile platforms to champion Flash over HTML5. Losing out a huge mobile market can signal a bigger problem for Flash on desktop market, because people can just replace Flash with HTML5. Unless Flash asserts itself in a way that people cannot do without Flash whether it be on mobile devices or on desktop computers, I don’t see how Flash will be able to win the hearts of users in its war against HTML5.
In summary, I think a non-fish-tank ecosystem of apps is going to work better for everyone who involves with app marketplaces, albeit the ones that may dislike this idea most are the hardware platform providers (e.g., Apple, Google, Microsoft) for obvious reasons (i.e., exclusivity). App developers are going to have an easier time to work with a more harmonic app ecosystem such as a non-fish-tank ecosystem of apps. App developers may make more money and save costs in non-fish-tank ecosystem of apps. App users never have to worry about incompatibility, because all apps will work on all platforms — whether it be a mobile platform or a desktop platform. Talking about how the information can become evermore portable since one app can work in all platforms in non-fish-tank ecosystem of apps. Lastly, you can never have enough security, and so security software should be made available for mobile users (we already know computer users have the ability to choose among well known security software such as Norton Security Suite).
Vinh Nguyen
