Own an iPad? Downloaded the eBay app? You should. It is by far the best way to experience eBay.
Watch Movies? Seen the IMDB App? It is so much better than the website.
Use Twitter? 81,43% chance you are not using Twitter.com but an App.
It seems that more and more Apps are replacing websites in a time when more and more applications are moving to the web. What exactly do we want? Email went from the Application to the Cloud with Gmail, and we love it. The same for Flickr for photos and Google Docs for documents. At the same time Twitter started out as a website but quickly moved to applications on multiple platforms. It is clear that just moving everything to the web isn’t the ultimate solution for everything. That eBay and IMDB app are clear examples.
Not too long ago Adam Richardson published a guest post on this blog in which he claimed the “Death of the Browser“. Richardson explained how the notion of a web browser will disappear as its content gets embedded in widgets, gadgets and machines – just as we will be ‘always online’ we will also ‘always be in a browser’. Just like there won’t be a need to announce that you are ‘online’ there won’t be a need to ‘browse’. Hence, the death of the browser.
I have a different vision: the death of the website. Many successful ‘Internet’ start-ups now run without the need for a website. They might still have one but it won’t be the centerpiece of their existence. Google without a website would be unthinkable. Twitter without a website? Not so far fetched at all.
Ever visited Shazam.com? I hadn’t until I started writing this article. I have however been using their app on the iPhone for a week now. There isn’t much you can do on their website either. It basically tries to get you to download the App as quick as possible as that is where the value of Shazam really lies.
Is it so hard to imagine a day where the Twitter home page will do the same? “Download Twitter for iPhone, Twitter for iPad or Twitter for Desktop and get Twittering!”. Oh sure, there will also be a web interface to Twitter for people who want to do dry run before they install stuff.
The future of the Web might very well be away from the browser, away from the Web and “app’d”. What websites do you see moving to predominantly to the App world soon?
I really had to think of websites that would benefit from having an app, that do not already. Most big and popular sites already have apps nowadays.
The only category I could see staying 'behind on the web' are the e-commerce and blog-sites. Selling products is quite a tough thing to do and translating those lessons to app-level formats seems almost impossible right now..
Anyway, nice article. :)
Don't think the website will ever die, but the role will change, as it has been doing ever sinds the first website. On another note: Building different apps for differt os's will be an even bigger nightmare then building websites for different browsers.
I've been building web sites since 1995 and still do. I might be natural to start an argue that the web site is not dead, but, I do agree with you on many levels. I notice that more and more interaction and media consumption is done through app interfaces and social networks. It's sure is a very exciting development!
Recently a good friend ask for advice on on how to put up a website. When it turned out she wanted to share knowledge and build a personal brand, I could not even recommend her to build a website. Social media and perhaps a blog is a much better and more effective way to do that.
I also notice im my own behaviour that I might establish connections with partners, brands and products without even visiting their websites.
The website is not dead, but it's value and importance is sure giving way for native apps and social networking apps. In the long run, I really don't know, but sure is, the platform giving the best user experience will win!
Apple would love the App to be the one interface to the internet. But it's not an open standard. HTML is, however, designed to be a universally accepted, every-platform standard. The death of the browser may be being announced prematurely, the web has got a way to go yet ;-)
The two are rapidly merging into one anyway with things like Silverlight. Websites are getting richer and capable of displaying on more devices. I cannot think of many things an app can give you that a modern website cannot. Isnt it all just called a web application?
Agree with Felix, a bit premature to announce the death of the website. I think the real challenge to websites will be what viewpoint the creative & UX is originally designed for.
Can you imagine many BOs paying for a fantastic UX on a mobile device like the iPad and then pay again for a re-imagining in a browser? Will they design for the mobile device first and reduce features for the browser, or the other way around?
Makes complete sense, the internet becomes the “platform” and websites are just one access point, and sometimes (Shazam) not even the most important one. Remember the Milk and Evernote are the two I probably use most.
I also think that you are a bit premature in announcing the death of the website. I think that Apps are still pretty new to most Americans. I talk to plenty of potential clients that barely use the web or their own sites. Yes there are 7 million+ people with iPhones and millions that have Blackberries and Android phones, but we're years away from total acceptance of personal media devices and the like. Many of us with iPads and iPhones believe we have the standard, but one look down your comments list shows that there are still plenty of people using MS PCs (Silverlight comment). People that use this MS devices live in their own world too. Many of us that look to HTML5 to change things also live in our own world. The fact remains that many professionals in the Middle US want less interference and less internet time, believing that it just takes up more of their time.
It's an exciting time to live for technophiles but we're not the biggest segment of the population.
While the point is somewhat valid, why do applications need powerful websites? Shazam is a tool that performs without a website because it doesn't need one. Would anyone complain about the Sim City website not letting you play the game from there? Just look at the outrage over Flash on the iPhone, most of what people want to do is visit websites to play games, use tools and watch videos made for that site.
Fascinating thought. Just reinforces the notion that if constant change stresses you out, internet marketing & services is no place for you. Death might be an overstatement but “monumental shift” wouldn't be. People have much less need for the website already, and that will continue to grow exponentially. What will us SEO types be doing a year from now? Google only knows.
Fascinating thought. Just reinforces the notion that if constant change stresses you out, internet marketing & services is no place for you. Death might be an overstatement but “monumental shift” wouldn't be. People have much less need for the website already, and that will continue to grow exponentially. What will us SEO types be doing a year from now? Google only knows.
Yes, and email is dead too right? Sorry but I think this is not true at all. This maybe counts for Many nitwits but when I'm behind my destop websites are number one for years to come and I'm a pro and was online before public internet access existed so give me some credit. Hypes alone don't create new standards. Internet with only stupid widgets and apps is a big fail. Especialy when everything is controlled by big daddy censor Apple.
Great post. Interesting idea. Three thoughts: One is the old 'they said vinyl will be the death of live music…CD the death of vynal …' and so on annecdote. Yet live music never died and is thriving. The other: in this debate progatinists seem to quote: “download from…” as you do. Does this mean site will not die, but become site motherships for App downloads? Lastly, Brands, and customers' needs for relationships with them, may still play a part in determining how they are accessed.
I agree with @davereinhardt and add to his comment that I think websites won't be just an access point but also the archive of all the information that cannot be stored elsewhere. It will be the original and necessary hyphen between all other platforms toegether with the “shared language” matrix.
Hasn't Flash provided “App” functionality for years? Yeah – it has. So this is more of a device type of argument. Whether the App is created in Flash, Silverlight, C# or anything else, Apps and websites will always have a place.
Websites can be updated and upgraded without a download or restart for the end client. Apps can't. Apps can control their environment and are typically fine-tuned for a specific OS. Benefits to both.
The answer? Become or find/hire an awesome programmer. Your business needs one.
I think that web platforms which can successfully offer API's and get the app developer community rallied around their platform can do amazing things. Unfortunately only a few can do this so most websites will remain just that, websites.
But even if outside developers can't be attracted, internal ones must be looking to establish their websites in other forms such as apps, especially mobile ones.
I think that many developers are already so tied up in the Facebook's and Twitter's so there is limited time for them to shift to other ones. I also think that sites which can offer automated app generation will do quite well because app development is expensive, and out of reach of many website owners.
I think that web platforms which can successfully offer API's and get the app developer community rallied around their platform can do amazing things. Unfortunately only a few can do this so most websites will remain just that, websites.
But even if outside developers can't be attracted, internal ones must be looking to establish their websites in other forms such as apps, especially mobile ones.
I think that many developers are already so tied up in the Facebook's and Twitter's so there is limited time for them to shift to other ones. I also think that sites which can offer automated app generation will do quite well because app development is expensive, and out of reach of many website owners.
I dont think the websites will ever die… Applications are good for circulating one post/image/note at multi platforms. Thats nice, but when it comes to individual tastes, the websites still hold the biggest charm. If the sites like Shazam are making users to download their app, one has to understand that shazam made this site to publicize their product… there.. the apps need a website as well. On the other hand the websites which intend to be “websites” use these apps to attract more and more traffic towards themselves…
Also apps are more targeted at handhelds and iphone genre… the manual laptops and PC users still like to surf.. like im doing right now at your article. Aps are for short time fun and quick fixising.. websites are for larger chunks of time.
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I've read about the death of the browser, the email and now the website. And the truth is, all of these will still be used and needed. In technology things don't die, they evolve.
I agree. The Web — or more precisely HTML, aka the “Eyeball Markup Language — was a transitional phase. It will always be present, and we'll use it for a long time as just another option which works when others don't; but for the most part, it won't be the primary means of accessing the content on the Internet.
Web is getting richer. I think the app phenomenon is more a comment on the fact many mobile browsers remain somewhat limited, and there's still many websites not optimized for the different form factor.
if you want a good web browser on a mobile try n900/maemo — although even there the touch/form factor issues remain.
I think it's transient. more “apps” == bookmarks in future
Seriously now? iPad will kill the Web as we know it? Not a chance. There are a lot of movements aiming to improve the World Wide Web as we experience it right now, but I don't think iPad will have such an effect.
A closed platform to lead the web? I don't think so, it will be a *suicide* move. Yeah, Apps are cute, especially some iPhone OS developed Apps, but that doesn't mean they can replace the web, especially with the censorship that almost any App store has. [ with Apple to be the leader to that]
One last thing, Web != HTML . Put any other markup or other language there.
I think this is true for all location based services, like Foursquare. Shazam for instance offers a great service, and is always linked to the location where you are at that moment (as that's where the music you don't know yet is playing).
All services that provide in a consumer's needs at a certain moment, will work faster, better and easier in an app. So I think you're making a great point in this article.
Also, I feel that an app is to a website, what a keynote is to a written document; you are forced to use less (words, space, images; shit) to explain the same. Apps therefore force developers to thin out the service their website originally offered, but still make it work in the palm of someones hand — and a lot better than it does on the website.
Unless the IMDB app has started supporting your personalized version of IMDB (eg. including votes, vote history, etc) it's unusable to me.
So many of the webs most popular sites aren't sites at all. They are software APPLICATIONS that only look like sites. Twitter, Facebook, Ebay, Google, Most of these could easily be an application and in fact should be more elegant in that guise.
New York times looks and acts far better on the iPad than it does as a site.
The future won't be apps or sites. It will be both, and then something else all together.
the better question is “What is a web site?” does it need to be what we think it is today? Especially since the web is something that only happens on computer some of the time. My kids surf most of the time on their iTouch.
I do find a lot of writing about technology to be skewed by the idea that because you and your friends all have iPhones that everyone else does.
Simple facts such as the fact that in 2007 alone over 1 billion mobile phones were sold – so far in total around 20 million iPhones have been sold – seem to be just overlooked.
There's 100,000 apps! How many websites are there?
Apps came about as an interim to websites adapting to the platform. Eventually when you visit twitter on a mobile browser you'll basically just get the app – without having to download the app that has to be written in a totally different coding language.
Think someone said the app will eventually just be a bookmark – how true.
You’re a dumbshit. No one is giving up their home computers for a screen you need magnifying glasses to read.
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