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0 pointsgdilla10y ago0 comments

Downloading hasn't lost it's novelty (though it is still high barrier compared to mobile web). It's discovery which is the problem. New publishers are mostly doomed to fail. Apart from that, apps have short half lives. If someone doesn't use your app everyday, it's basically toast.

Mobile web is getting better, but i'd still rather use facebook's app and airbnb's app vs their adequate mobile web experiences. It's just a better UX. For things like uber, you don't even have that choice. On the other hand, if you're experience is not task intensive, mobile web is just fine.

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4 comments · 3 top-level

wnevets10y ago· 1 in thread

>Mobile web is getting better, but i'd still rather use facebook's app and airbnb's app vs their adequate mobile web experiences.

I've uninstalled the facebook android app and switched to a chrome shortcut. Works just as well and even gets notifications. Not to mention the better battery life.

soylentcola10y ago

When I got my most recent phone I declined to install the app and it's definitely noticeable. Even though I had app notifications off (I just get an email if someone directly messages or tags me) it liked to run in the background all the time and additionally, I got tired of it constantly trying to push secondary apps for messaging and such.

Currently I use "Tinfoil" which is essentially just a wrapper for the mobile site with a bit of sandboxing and tweaking. Not perfect but then again, I prefer it to a constantly running, resource hogging, frequently nagging app when all I want is to occasionally look at Facebook and see what friends and family have posted.

(app in question, not affiliated: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.danvelazco...)

petra10y ago

I always hear that discovery is the problem, but it always seems like a problem creators have, not a problem/need for users.

Since the bar is already very high - people only care about 20-30 high usage apps , if comes an app that passes that barrier it would be very useful, so knowledge about it would spread virally in the relevant communities.

On the other hand, i do agree with you that native offers better experience - but maybe the way forward is to offer a platform that has the quality of native but the deployment benefits of the web ? I.e. Google's acquisition of a native app streaming startup:

http://techcrunch.com/2015/06/18/report-last-year-google-sec...

eva198410y ago

Downloading is THE problem. Compare to apps, I can easily bookmark website and revisit if I like it, easy to get you a customer.

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