Tomorrow, Apple will open the Mac App Store, and assumedly, a flood of new apps will be available to OS X users.
I fear that most of these apps will be not unlike iOS apps — simple, one-task apps that just re-arrange web data. While that works on mobile devices, I’m not sure it will on the desktop. I don’t want another 45 apps in my Dock to do what I can do now without them.
The main problem with web apps today is that they aren’t granted the same rights as native apps, including integration with calendar, contact and photo information. Web apps continue to be islands. Even with off-line data, they just aren’t the same as SDK-built apps. Until Apple, Google and other mobile OS makers resolve this issue, web apps will always be second-class citizens in this app-driven world.
There’s another reason apps are more popular than the browser for many tasks on smaller devices — formatting. iOS apps usually package online data is much nicer, neater, better-looking ways that web developers do.
Safari on the desktop doesn’t have either problem, but the web isn’t the answer either. Just ask Google.
One thing is clear: Google has a long way to go with the Web Store. It’s still impossible to distinguish applications that are basically just bookmarks from those that are full-fledged web apps. And while the purchase flow itself is pretty simple (you can buy something in a couple clicks, assuming you already have a Google Checkout account), I think Google will have to put some work into educating people on what exactly they’re paying for.
So if a ton of little apps aren’t the answer, and a web-based experience isn’t right either, what is?