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from the why-get-the-milk-for-free-when-you-can-buy-a-cow dept.
The Guardian has an article about the usage stats of apps and the Web on mobile devices.
The prediction that mobile web use would overtake apps has been disproved by data from analytics firm Flurry ... The idea that people will shift from using native apps on their smartphones to using HTML5 websites offering the same functionality hasn't played out ...
They don't say where that prediction came from, but I could have told them it was dubious years ago. For most users, apps are simply more convenient. I'd bet that a lot more Android and iOS users know how to find their app list than know how to find their Web bookmarks.
But personally I go to significant lengths to avoid apps that I think should just be websites instead. One reason is security; I don't want to be running someone else's code just so that I can read their text. But is my attitude correct? With web browsers having so much functionality these days, perhaps using a dedicated newspaper app with just the "full network access" permission would be less of a security risk than visiting that same newspaper's website using Firefox for Android, for example? Bear in mind the latter also has permissions for the camera, microphone, GPS, NFC, device accounts, 'run at startup', etc.
Also from the article:
For Google, the indifference of smartphone users to the mobile web in favour of apps presents a problem because in general it cannot follow users' activity inside apps ... The search company has begun an initiative offering links to in-app content for Android developers which it will be able to index.
Is avoiding Google another reason I should learn to love apps instead of the Web?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Silentknyght on Wednesday April 02 2014, @09:40PM
I'm generally opposed to duplicating a webpage in an app, but that said, the mobile web is generally bad. It takes entirely too long to load some news sites, and then they're crammed full of useless garbage and ads. The worst also have pop-up-like graphics, which are completely awful. That ridiculous level of nonsense isn't *usually* present in the app version, in my experience.
Then there's all the mobile browsers, and how depressing it is that there's not "one to rule them all," so of course, I run 3-4 different ones...