John Allsop wonders aloud whether or not most iPhone native apps should be web apps, instead. Although I don’t really share John’s lack of enthusiasm for native iPhone apps in general, I definitely think he has a point. Many of the best apps on the iPhone are simply interfaces to web content. Many of them don’t offer any real advantages over a similar web app. Developers would be wise to still consider the web app direction as a possibility, unless they specifically need to access native functionality such as the camera or location data — web apps are more compatible, more distributable, and arguably easier to develop.
http://www.webdirections.org/blog/iphone-native-apps-the-great-leap-backwards/
001 // Keith // 07.21.2008 // 6:09 PM
I generally agree - and our own Flickr app for Leaflets is proof. It’s a bit scaled back, but I think better than the Exposure app. Also m.twitter.com, IMHO is better than any of the native iPhone twitter apps I’ve seen. But that one might be personal pref. :)
002 // Jeff Croft // 07.21.2008 // 8:42 PM
I think it really just depends on the app. While I sort of agree that m.twitter.com offers as good or better a Tweet reading experience as any of the native apps, I think what makes the web-based twitter client tough is the slowness going between the reading and posting mode. With Twitterific, I can post Tweets very quickly without disrupting my Tweet reading experience — I don’t have to reload the page or re-scroll down the page; I’m right where I left off.
You’re right about the Flickr Leaflet. It’s definitely as good or better than Exposure. Exposure does pay lip service to location awareness, but it’s nothing too exciting. The one place Exposure could shine is by offering photo uploading capabilities. That’s something you couldn’t do with a web app, but you can do with a native app. However, ConnectedFlow has totally left that feature out. Bummer.
Games, obviously, are one big place where the native apps shine. As much as I love NetNewsWire on the Mac, I’m not yet convinced it’s any better than a web-based reader on the Mac. Same with other newsy apps like the New York Times’. However, the radio apps (AOL Radio, Pandora, Last.fm) are a good example of native apps that really couldn’t be done on the web.
Bottom line? It just depends. I think the take away is that developers should really think about their app ahead of time and decide which deployment platform is appropriate for it, rather than just diving into iPhone native apps because it’s all the rage right now.