The INQUIRER: Misinforming people for years
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The mobile Internet does not need apps
THE CO-CEO of Canadian Blackberry smartphone maker Research in Motion (RIM), Jim Balsillie has said that Apple's idea that smartphones need apps is just plain silly and will die out quickly.
Speaking at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, Balsillie said that you can bring the mobile to the web, but you don't need to go through some kind of control point.
Apple's system for apps involves everything going through a central control point where they can be purged of anything that Steve Jobs does not like, he said.
However Balsillie said that you do not need to convert the Internet so that it is the perfected mirror of Steve Jobs' will.
The Internet should not be about a set of proprietary rules, it needs to be a platform that allows you to use your existing web content, not apps, he said.
Balsillie predicted that the era of smartphone applications would "pass real quick".
He also said RIM will be flogging a tablet next year called Playbook that will be cheaper than the Ipad. It will have a 7-inch display, smaller than the 9.7-inch screen on Apple's Ipad, and will be able to run Adobe's Flash video software.
Balsillie downplayed news that Google is building near field communication (NFC) chips into a second generation Nexus smartphone that it is readying for release. He said that RIM will also be moving to NFC chips soon. µ
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The desire for apps isn't going anywhere any time soon. Maybe RIM doesn't take apps seriously enough but Google is. The number of Android market apps continues to grow. Try limiting those apps and see how much growth you get out of it RIM.
the era of smartphone applications would "pass real quick"
uh, at 7 billion downloads and counting, it is unlikely that the era of Apple app downloads will "pass real quick..."
And all they heard were people screaming to be able to write native binaries. The rest is history.
The fact is that web works well for some things and not for others. You can force it to do things that it wasn't intended for using HTML5, CSS3 etc, but it's like a dancing bear (the fact that it does it at all is impressive, not how well it works).
Even RIM have admitted this with their promised support for Adobe AIR (which is admittedly a halfway house, not native code), but as that won't be ready for the initial release they're talking up web apps. What a surprise.
for programmers. You reminded of what irks me too. I suppose those can be justified by "extra features" / attuned to small screen for an app, but it's still a lot of duplicating efforts.
(I was back to check after two errors, one saying unavailable, one saying errors, but it did post first time. Best thing to do with the Inq's "teddibly British", "'ang on, it's tea-time" system is WAIT and check if appears, usually does. I suspect the server is on an Acorn or a Sinclair Spectrum.)
I don't like apps that serve me certain parts of the internet. Apps are good for managing functions in my phone, like a regular computer program, but I'd much rather see a m.blablabla.com version of all websites instead of apps feeding me data I could just as well get on the internet by myself.
If I were him, I'd avoid the word "silly" (or "balls"), but maybe that's the writer.
Anyhoo, I think he's right. Phones as toys will fade away, eventually. In my day, all we could do was ring up and ask: "Do you have Prince Phillip in a can? -- Well, you'd better let him out! He'll suffocate!" ... That being a brand of pipe tobacco, get it? ... Urrgh. No good if you have to explain 'em.