“Really since the introduction of the iPhone, but particularly after the advent iPad, this concept of “apps as content” has gained a lot of currency, and now every media company in the world feels compelled to be in the business of developing native software as a distribution channel. Despite the press’s tendency to portray this trend as futuristic, I actually think of it as a bit retrograde—particularly since we’ve actually been evolving an incredibly sophisticated medium for content presentation and distribution for over 15 years now: the web.”—
Buzz Andersen, my pal and Director of Mobile Development at Tumblr
Couldn’t possibly agree more.
(via edp)
I’m of really mixed opinions about mobile apps for presenting publisher content. There are a lot of problems interacting with content using HTML. TCP/IP+HTTP is a fantastic distribution platfom, but HTML5+CSS3 still doesn’t let you do the same sort of things you can do with a native app. On the other hand, asking a business to write/buy/maintain a content storage system + 3/4/5/N presentation platforms is awful.
BTW - have you tried using Tumblr’s mobile app on Android? For viewing, it’s basically a web view, and ALL KINDS of stuff doesn’t work. There are a ton of images that don’t load, a ton of videos I can’t view… it’s one of the strongest arguments in favor of NOT using a mobile web site.
