The computing world is clearly going all vertical, all the time, and I can't be alone in being fed up with it. I think this locked-down environment that Apple has persuaded everyone to be comfortable with is eventually going to break down. I can't see any compelling reason why anyone would build 3 versions of their service to support the mobile platforms, and deal with 3 gatekeepers, 3 ecosystems. It just spreads any single developer out too thinly to be feasible. We are definitely going to see HTML5 mobile websites really starting to gain a foothold, because it's the only way to escape the gatekeepers and build a unique brand.
See Twitter.com on an iPhone for a great example of how a lot of mobile web apps are going to look. Apple, Google, and Microsoft can collectively go suck an egg.
You have confirmation bias. For every one of you (and me) who are fed up with vertically-controlled distribution models, you have 10 people who literally could not use their computers because they can't figure out how to install/use their software (let's not even get into hardware maintenance or data backups).
Metro/iOS to the rescue... this will be a godsend for them, and Microsoft sees Apple laughing all the way to bank (and wants in on that action).
Google -> Android -> Android Store
Microsoft -> Metro -> Windows Store
The computing world is clearly going all vertical, all the time, and I can't be alone in being fed up with it. I think this locked-down environment that Apple has persuaded everyone to be comfortable with is eventually going to break down. I can't see any compelling reason why anyone would build 3 versions of their service to support the mobile platforms, and deal with 3 gatekeepers, 3 ecosystems. It just spreads any single developer out too thinly to be feasible. We are definitely going to see HTML5 mobile websites really starting to gain a foothold, because it's the only way to escape the gatekeepers and build a unique brand.
See Twitter.com on an iPhone for a great example of how a lot of mobile web apps are going to look. Apple, Google, and Microsoft can collectively go suck an egg.