AMD joins MeeGo

Posted Nov 15, 2010 20:17 UTC (Mon) by klbrun (subscriber, #45083)
In reply to: AMD joins MeeGo by martinfick
Parent article: AMD joins MeeGo

I think you are missing out on how mobile devices are about to transform software apps. For example, consider that it is now feasible for people to get together in ad hoc wifi LANS to share data, etc. One or more mobile devices may host a web server for that purpose. Email and youtube would be useless in that context, but apps will certainly be used to enhance the web server content.

And you can have other services besides web on such wifi networks. App stores are being created by and for corporations to easily collect and distribute software within the corporation. The app store is the killer app for the smart phone, and will continue to be the killer app for other mobile devices able to mutitask.

AMD joins MeeGo

Posted Nov 15, 2010 20:42 UTC (Mon) by martinfick (subscriber, #4455) [Link] (3 responses)

While I certainly knew that my "no apps" comment would be the biggest bone of contention to my post, I still stand by it. :)

With a webserver and browser, who needs apps? I don't believe that WLAN parties are going to suddenly make the world turn away from its web centric shift. There would have to be a big gain over simple portable browser based apps. Apps on phones and tablets are just like apps on PCs in the early days, we cared because that was how the market began. It seemed so important until the web came along. With phones, we still don't really have the web yet (too small), so apps are filling a small gap in time until the displays catch up to the web. Apps are the browser plugins of yesterday, cool, but far from essential.

Sure there will always be niche opportunities, but the vast majority of the people aren't interested in apps which they can only access from one device or their PCs/macs, just as they aren't interested in DRMed content. Apps are where the money is at for the producers (right now), so naturally there is plenty of hype there, but hype is the key word. Just like ebooks, you hear about them because money talks (and brags). And let's face it, reviewers and pundits wouldn't have much to write about it if they admitted that apps were largely irrelevant. Meanwhile, the rest of the world continues to read/access the free content on the rest of the web. My mom will use a browser and email and youtube, she wouldn't care one bit about an app store.

App stores matter... to those running app stores.

AMD joins MeeGo

Posted Nov 16, 2010 1:12 UTC (Tue) by cmccabe (guest, #60281) [Link] (2 responses)

> With a webserver and browser, who needs apps?

HTML5 doesn't provide an API to use a lot of the hardware on a modern tablet device. Anyone who wants to use the camera, accelerometers, multitouch, microphone, and probably a lot of other hardware, needs to write a native app.

Maybe someday, years from now, there will be a version of HTML that provides these capabilities. Then again, maybe not. It doesn't really matter because the mobile OS war is going to be fought and won before any of that matters.

AMD joins MeeGo

Posted Nov 16, 2010 1:52 UTC (Tue) by martinfick (subscriber, #4455) [Link]

Sure it does, it's called a browser. Most of those things are just input devices. The important use case are already covered either by the browser or the default system app for those things. Sure, there will be niche areas which require apps just as there will always be niche devices. I am not claiming that apps won't exist, just that they aren't needed on a simple tablet. A large portion of people (perhaps even a majority) will never install a single app on these lower end devices. Apps simply aren't a differentiator when comparing a $100 device to a $500 one (for the person buying the $100 one).

AMD joins MeeGo

Posted Nov 16, 2010 8:18 UTC (Tue) by mfedyk (guest, #55303) [Link]

see phonegap for a solution until the native api makes it into the browser.