What is the advantage to using an app over just browsing a website as it is intended to be seen in its full form?

I get why people do it with phones, there speed and space is more important than full functionality.

But why with an iPad when most of the time you're surfing through the same wifi you'd use with your laptop? Why would you willingly choose to use a less-than version of a website when you could just open a browser and browse through the whole thing?

kidder, I'd say you're right. Apps are already one of the game-changers out in the wild.

Its been an interesting week Tedster, you start to look at the untainted by search user experience of an app, maybe this is how things should progress. I'm already researching app developers for our web properties..

This is an old presentation by Steve Jobs. 1.5 minutes into his presentation, he tells you about less Google and more Apps for searching.
[youtu.be...]

Now I'm noticing a lot of quality established brands offering apps on their sites. I wonder if G will ever work this into their quality signals in some way.

App, short for application, as in software application... been around for YEARS :-)

Why do people think something new has been invented.

To me it's like going back in time having icons all over the place instead of a structured menu system. Once upon a time this was known as a desktop and we had desktop icons.

I have an iPhone and iPad, that's the great invention not the apps. Personally I think the apps are a pain in the backside and hate all the updates etc.

Apps are cool for games etc but I really don't get why you would download an app for a website instead of just using the website. Perhaps I'm getting too old for this... hehe.

Using the standard web browser on the iPhone and iPad is where it's at for me.

I'm....not convinced.

Right now, the Appstore model strikes me as a stopgap technology. I think Microsofts model with Win8 - HTML5 Applets - is probably going to be the way forward over the current appstore model. Its got too many advantages - Completely open standard, easier to integrate with existing websites and services, easier cross platform capability... imagine being able to write an 'app' that runs natively on Windows, Linux, Andriod, Macos, iOS, WebOS, and contains content is spiderable and SEO-able to search engines.

Ahh you lost me when you said "spiderable" The great thing about apps is that there is no SEO consideration. Its all about the user experience.

With millions of apps, don't you need a search engine for that ? :)

Seriously, I tried to upgrade Firefox and most of the add-ons weren't compatible. Doesn't that happen with apps too? Plus using apps kinda limits your horizon, no? You miss on new things a lot

Ahh you lost me when you said "spiderable" The great thing about apps is that there is no SEO consideration. Its all about the user experience.

Tell that to the companies behind the apps and see what reaction you get.

My usage of my Android tablet is different.

I use a web browser (Miren), an ebook reader (FB Reader) and Acrobat Reader (which is the nearest thing to a decent PDF reader on Android!) regularly, and that is it.

Its nice to be able to use a web browser or read an ebook with the convenience of a small format hardware (carry it in one hand, read in bed), but if I am actually sitting down with it for any length of time I far prefer my laptop.

I see the app store as a technically inferior (no dependency handling) and locked down equivalent to what Linux has had for years. As pete says mobile device apps are just applications.

Still no one has answered my basic question in this thread:

>>What is the advantage to using an app over just browsing a website as it is intended to be seen in its full form?

I get it on a phone, but it really makes no sense on a tablet.

From a new users perspective I can tell you this much, many of the apps are purpose built for mobile devices and often offer a much nicer user experience than the websites. I find that I visit the same sites from day to day, an app might be viewed as a bookmark with benefits. Speed, presentation are nicer. I'm guessing print and TV media is offering more via apps just to cut out the middle man. Google. This is just my initial perspective, I'm seeing a lot of mobile devices in my stats these days..

@kidder I get that. But the iPad is not REALLY a mobile device. Really it's just a more portable laptop without a keyboard.

The reason you need apps optimized for a mobile device is because the screen is too small, and often the download speeds are too slow.

Neither of these things is really much a problem with iPad... so why would you want to use apps over just using the full website which 1) always looks better 2) had more features and 3) is already there without having to install anything?

Having made the switch to apps over a year ago, I can vouch for them. they provide Web properties with one important thing - an independent source of users outsides of the ploys and tricks used by Google Search (cough - panda - cough). If there is but one value to apps for webmaster, that one should be at the very top.

@Harry, but how do people find the apps in the first place? In an appstore? Lots of competition there.

Also, the question is what is about what value the apps have to users. IN other words, why should I install an app specific to a website instead of bookmarking the site?

Neither of these things is really much a problem with iPad... so why would you want to use apps over just using the full website which 1) always looks better 2) had more features and 3) is already there without having to install anything?

The best apps are tailored to the device, not just a cut down version of a web site. For example property apps that can show you property prices and available listings based on your current location, or even news apps that are designed to make use of the fixed aspect ratio and resolution of the ipad to give better visual presentation.

Saw this post today - [businessinsider.com...] It talks about Facebook Investor Roger McNamee's opinion on the end of social network and the beginning of apps.

@kidder and all here, can I ask what's your opinion on monetize the apps as an affiliate? From my perspective apps is a simpler yet compact version of information. I couldn't think of anyway in asking people to spend though the device, especially it involves keying-in credit card. Or am I wrong?

This is a shift in the way things are done online and a a big one, I'm just not sure how to make a buck out of it just yet. I think the first step is probably to look at what your currently doing and if developing an app is going to bring you more eyeballs. I knew nothing when I built my first website, history repeats..

Thanks Lowkei,
amazing how we sometimes forget to look at the big picture.

Google is a victim of its own success: its search has become polluted by SEOs. What shows that Google has failed is all those "non-search" services that really solve a search problem, like Match.com or Realtor.com. If you add them all up, they account for 50% of searches.

Fascinating stuff on iPad, Windows and especially HTML5. Not saying he's 100% right (Elevation Partners sucks at investing- Palm, Forbes) but some points are interesting.

Windows is going away only when Apple starts selling 'regular' computers as fast as iPhones. Everything else is fun and all but I need a regular computer at home and businesses need a desktop at work. Granted I might not update them as often but you can't really type or work on an iPad /iPhone /Android.

>>The best apps are tailored to the device, not just a cut down version of a web site. For example property apps that can show you property prices and available listings based on your current location, or even news apps that are designed to make use of the fixed aspect ratio and resolution of the ipad to give better visual presentation.

I have never seen any app that is not a cut down version of the website. Example?

I've tried property apps for instance. In all cases they just do what the website does in an app, but without the graphics of the website.

@graeme_p there is no magic to making sure that users find your app. It's good old marketing all over. However, when you market an app, you are speaking to a captive audience that wants to listen in because they use apps. Your message will be lost on everybody that doesn't use smartphones. Unless, they are thinking of getting a smartphone soon, they are useless.

If you only replace Google with the appstore to get users, then you aren't doing your work properly. You need to diversity your marketing and approach users outside of the built it and they'll come model. You must approach potential users outside of the Web, the same way you would if you were selling any other product.

People who see apps as junior versions of full Websites don't get it. You need something compelling for the app to resonate with users, something they can't find on your site. People don't use apps the same way they use websites. I'm tired of seeing people compare the two and say that apps are stop gap measures.

They are not. Apps are they're own things and although they can emerge as an extension of a Website, they should not be treated as inferior products, scaled down or junior versions of the real thing. Mobile users have definite needs for apps, and they use them in a specific context which is different from Websites.

All I know is that the situation for my Web properties would be far worse following Panda, if I didn't have my apps pulling in new users and existing ones everyday.

Here's a hint, social networks have changed the way people use Websites. You can either bang your head against a wall, trying to outsmart Google Search for the benefit of a reduced audience that's shrinking because of social networks and mega brands, or you can position yourself, and your properties in a place where competition from the little guys is still possible and where users are captive and by default, want to hear what you have to say/sell.