

Closing the Digital Frontier - JunkDNA
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/07/closing-the-digital-frontier/8131

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JunkDNA
My gut reaction to this article is that it mistakes a short-term trend for a
long-term one. It seems to me that apps are a response to two factors: 1)
Current browsers are not able to make use of all the added hardware going into
mobile devices (though this is slowly changing). 2) Apple has been able to
succeed with the App Store because they have an established relationship with
customers through iTunes. It's almost frictionless to buy apps as if one is
buying a cup of coffee. Nobody has managed to crack this nut in the general
sense for web applications through the browser. You might pay a dollar for a
game in the App Store, but most people are not going to enter their credit
card info and address into some random flash game website for the exact same
game. That's too much friction for something that has such a low value, and
there's too much downside that they will do something sneaky with your info.
Anyone who solves that issue in the general sense for web apps (if it's
solvable) will make a killing.

