When the Mac first came out, Newsweek asked me what I [thought] of it. I said: Well, it's the first personal computer worth criticizing. So at the end of the presentation, Steve came up to me and said: Is the iPhone worth criticizing? And I said: Make the screen five inches by eight inches, and you'll rule the world. [via Gizmodo - thanks Joe]
If you don't know who Alan Kay is, take a moment to read the article from Gizmodo. I think I understand exactly what Alan meant.
I've been pretty adamant in my support of the iPad, despite the fact that I have been a very vocal critic of all things Apple. Some of my thoughts on the iPad and its potential success were written here previously from a general industry point of view. This post explains my feelings from a user's point of view, because, I'm an admitted iPhone addict today.
One of the most major achievements that Apple has accomplished with their mobile platform, in my assessment, is something that is often overlooked. I'll call it, simply, the Standardization of the Web. To illustrate it clearly, I'll write about an experience I had on a recent trip.
With an overseas trip to Israel weeks away, as any good OCD tech would do, I purchased an Israeli SIM with unlimited data, and used Ultrasnow to unlock my iPhone. The thinking was simple: I'm a data hog, and AT&T charges $200 for 200 mb of data. That wouldn't fly. For $50, I could use a local SIM and get unlimited data. The problem arose after arriving at my destination to find that the SIM's data plan wasn't active. Uh oh. Of course I knew I'd be able to sort it out later, but I needed data *now*. So of course, back in went my AT&T SIM, and the fear of the cost of data since I never subscribed to any AT&T World data plan. Luckily, the airport had WiFi and I quickly launched the AT&T app for the iPhone - myWireless. In 3 clicks, or roughly 25 seconds, I added 20 mb for $25 - enough to juice me until I had the SIM issue sorted out. How long would it have taken me to do it via the AT&T wireless website? Try it yourself. A heckuvalot longer. The simple fact was that the AT&T app was *better* for my use, than the website. And I don't mean better for a mobile device. I mean, it was better than sitting in front of a laptop and trying to add the feature from their website.
That simple experience drove the point home for me. I started realizing that I had felt this way about other apps. Shutterfly, who, in my opinion has one of the best websites around, is more enjoyable in its App incarnation as long as I don't need any advanced features like their new Album creator. The Facebook app is faster, sleeker and more intuitive in practical use than its website counterpart. The Weather Channel app give me what I need most in less time. And all if not most of these apps present similar info and content in a very similar presentation. Facebook and Shutterfly for example present photos in much the same standard way that the iPhone Photo app works.
Aside from that, using some of the built-in functions of the device, an App version of a website can offer an even more robust experience than the website. Let's take for example the Yelp app. Here's a website that was begging to be a web app. Using location services, the app offers better search results. And a built in augmented reality mode offers a "monocle" that overlays results on top of a camera view of the world. Even Amazon's app offers unique functionality. Their app features something called "Remembers." With it, you take a snapshot of just about anything, and Amazon will try to match the snapshot with a product from Amazon.
To summarize in 1 line: it's the Era of the Apps.
That's not to say that I believe that Apps will supplant the Web, or that Apple has figured out the best way to get these apps to the consumers (don't get me started about their App reviewal policies!!) But it is to say that with the cost of app development dropping and the popularity of these devices increasing, more and more websites will be releasing app versions of their website. And these app versions will take the core of their site and present it in the same standardized, optimized, integrated way the other apps do.
So what happens when you take the app experience and expand it to exist on other planes, such as those traditionally held by desktop or laptop computers? I think Alan put it best.
And I said: Make the screen five inches by eight inches, and you'll rule the world.
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