If web apps are so much better why are people making fat apps for the iphone left and right?
The way iPhone apps are distributed mitigates many of the leaking funnel difficulties with desktop applications. There's exactly one place to buy them, and OH MY GOD would I kill to have one click buying for all my customers.
However, the mindshare iPhone apps have on HN is tremendously disproportionate to their utility for the developer vis a vis other opportunities to sell software for money. I will happily explain why on another day.
Let's compare his 17 reasons why a consumer wouldn't buy a desktop app to what happens with the iPhone:
X. Start your web session on Google, like everyone does these days.
X. Google your pain point.
X. Click on the search result to the shareware site.
4. Read a little, realize they have software that solves your problem.
X. Mentally evaluate whether the software works on your system.
6. Click on the download button.
7. Wait while it downloads.
X. Close your browser.
X. Try to find the file on your hard disk.
X. Execute the installer.
X. Click through six screens that no one in the history of man has ever read.
X. Execute the program.
X. Get dumped at the main screen.
X. Play around, fall in love.
X. Potentially weeks pass.
X. Find your way back to the shareware site. Check out price.
17. Type in your credit card details. Hit Checkout.
There.
With an iPhone app,
1. Go to iTunes and search the app for that
2. Read a little, discover it's what you want
3. Click purchase
4. Enter AppStore password to confirm
But for the iPhone/iTunes you will have the following downsides, not in any order:
1. Give up control and predictability of your deployment cycles, and hence can't time and plan marketing effort as well.
2. Be in a closed market which does not allow you any alternative to better discovery of (your) apps.
3. Be in a closed market which provides high visibility for top-X apps. i.e. hits-based, and very low visibility for non-hits apps.
4. Due to (2), your pricing strategy is much constrained. And there is downward pressure applied to pricing due to (3).
5. You can't charge for upgrades (vs. desktop apps). You can charge for "content subscriptions", but the audience aren't trained for it and there is also policies on what you can charge for.
6. Because of (5), you have lose a major incentive for doing upgrades, but because of (3), unless you have a very successful initial launch, you may need to proceed with free upgrades anyhow.
7. No way to provide trial software, although many have adopted free software as an alternative.
8. Can't track analytics for iTunes. Of course you can do it for your own website, but after users click your link to open iTunes, you don't know if they convert.
Writing an iphone app as a "desktop app" v.s. writing a iphone web app.
If web apps are so much better why are people making fat apps for the iphone left and right?