Jonathan Stark

Most of the iPhone apps I see being developed were done for the panache of it, and could have been mobile web apps in 1/10 th of the dev time. Great post!

I agree with your approach, I designed my web app with the iPod in mind, but I think there’s one big caveat: the application icon. Is it possible for a web application to have it’s own icon on the iPod/iPhone/iPad?

On almost every other front, a web app is way better. It’s just harder for users to launch as consistently/easily as a native application, which really hampers the kind of apps I want to build (quick and simple data entry applications.)

Unless I’m missing something?

Adding a home screen icon:

http://building-iphone-apps.labs.oreilly.com/ch03.html#ch03_id35932602

Enjoy!

Isn’t that the point though? That’s where the suckers are who will buy your app?

Loved the book btw. It saved me a bunch of time getting through my first PhoneGap app. And with the advantage that I could turn around and also get it on Android Market! Mobile web FTW!

Touché
:)

Can you give me some good pointers on how to sell a webapp? Thanks

You can use the same ecommerce techniques web developers have been using for the last 10 years. Set up a paypal account and go to town.

One big difference: web apps require internet access, apps do not.

I wish…

Every single iPhone user has an iTunes store account with an active credit card tied to it.

With one poke they can confidently purchase any app without fear of credit card security or needing to pull out their wallet.

This is a big difference.

Reporter: “Why do you rob banks?”

Willie Sutton: “Cause that’s where the money is.”

It’s not about the ecommerce, it’s about the marketing: if your app gets into the top 10 on the App Store it’s an instant jackpot.

@seasoup – Technically, both web apps and native apps require internet access initially (i.e. at install time). However, neither necessarily requires internet access for normal operation.

It’s fairly simple to set up a web app to run offline:
http://building-iphone-apps.labs.oreilly.com/ch06.html

Thanks for your comment!

I don’t see why you’d ignore a sales channel. It’s not mutually exclusive with other things esp. if you are using phonegap/appcelerator. Should bands not sell on iTunes? Should merchants not sell on Amazon? They represent huge traffic drivers. Why do I want to give up a channel where people can buy my app with just a click and entry of their password? It’s a much steeper hill to climb when I start asking users to get out their credit cards.

I think its clear that the store offers some benefits to developers, but mostly economic. Which is to say that the biggest argument isn’t that the development platform is awesome, but that the distribution platform is awesome. Probably even not that it’s awesome, but that it’s the only game in town.

What if there were a third party store out there, one that could provide the trust, and authority need to get consumers over the small purchase hump. What would it look like?

I think Google Chrome team is working on a HTML5 App store but its going to be for Chrome, do you guys think it would be possible to do it outside a major company.

This is something that I have been thinking about for a while, no one has tried this, but it could be huge.

What would this store need to offer, what would it look like?

Hi @newobj

Thanks for your thoughtful comments!

I don’t see why you’d ignore a sales channel. It’s not mutually exclusive with other things esp. if you are using phonegap/appcelerator.

It is true that the issue is mitigated if you are building cross platform apps. If developers are not using these sorts of tools – and believe that most aren’t – app store requirements set forth by Apple and others can often increase the level of development effort to the point where releasing through other channels becomes prohibitive.

Should bands not sell on iTunes?

Unfortunately, bands selling songs on iTunes and app developers selling apps on iTunes are not analogous:

• Bands are allowed to create their products with whatever tools they want; developers are not.
• Bands can distribute their products elsewhere without modification; developers can not.
• Bands are allowed to submit whatever content they want; developers are not.

Why do I want to give up a channel where people can buy my app with just a click and entry of their password?

I realize that this is controversial (and perhaps beside the point), but I think that building a business based on the sale of digital goods is shortsighted. You end up trying to create a false environment of scarcity by adding DRM, suing users, and cursing knockoff artists. I’d rather see all that effort poured into making better apps.

(P.S. have you ever noticed that some of the most sophisticated apps in the store are free?)

It’s a much steeper hill to climb when I start asking users to get out their credit cards.

Again, I think selling digital goods is shortsighted. You can make more money, more easily, and on your own terms by giving away the bits and selling related physical goods and services.

That said, if you are dead set on selling an app – particularly one targeted at impulse buyers – the app store definitely does makes purchases frictionless. Unfortunately, this creates a store environment that drives the quality and price of apps down.

Consider this: does it make more sense to shotgun hundreds of trivial $0.99 apps into the app store, or to spend 6 months working on a masterpiece you hope to sell for $39.99? If you’re not sure of the answer, browse around the app store for a few minutes.

I’m happy to consider alternative opinions if people have them…

Cheers!
j

Certain apps simply cannot be created as web pages or with webview wrappers just yet.

For all others, designers, developers, etc need to bring back room in the early stages of planning an app where they step back and pick the right tool for the job. Going in with native on the brain no matter what is where it all starts for most and you get pigeonholed onto a path where its often costly to get out and move to a more appropriate tool.

The day I can make a serious multimedia app run on said 100 devices via the web, I will. Instant updates with no user action, that there is the killer feature in my eyes (again, second massive device support).

@alexch -

It’s not about the ecommerce, it’s about the marketing: if your app gets into the top 10 on the App Store it’s an instant jackpot.

It’s funny that you used the term “jackpot.” Much like the lottery, the iTunes App Store is set up to foster a “get rich quick” fantasy mentality. Developers are incentivized to submit lots of trivial, redundant, cheap apps in hopes of having a hit. Call me crazy, but I think it’s a bad idea to build a business based on producing crap, gaming the system, and keeping your fingers crossed.

For the record, I’ve seen a fair amount of iTunes app sales data and I agree that getting onto a top 10 delivers a spike in sales. However, I wouldn’t characterize the resulting profits as an “instant jackpot” – maybe a few thousand dollars for a month or two.

Consider this: with a quarter million apps in the app store, what percentage can ever be featured by Apple at a given time? Even if 1000 apps could be featured at once, that would be less than one half of one percent of all apps. You’d have better odds in Vegas :)

Its now 3 years since it’s been possible to write HTML apps for the iPhone. Can you point to even one commercially successful HTML iPhone app?

Gmail is the first that comes to mind.

Gmail’s commercial success was established well before it showed up on the iPhone. And Gmail’s contextual ads, its sole source of revenue, aren’t even included in the iPhone version of the HTML app…