Mobile World

In the last decade, we saw the rapidly expanding world of Web 2.0. With it came the advent of Web apps – Web pages designed with more fun, colorful interfaces, integration with social networks and sharing sites, and most notably, AJAX. This gives the slow and stale Web page a much needed boost in usability and, more importantly, speed.

Balancing app. Mobile Web versus mobile app? And what are the differences between a Web page, a Web app and an application?

AJAX makes it possible to communicate with a server without leaving the page – something that has always been the case in desktop applications. Users no longer need to wait dreaded seconds for the page to redraw – even if 95 percent of the content on that page stayed the same.

On June 29 2007, the game was changed once again with the introduction of the iPhone. It ushered in the usable touchscreen as an input device and turned the user interface world on its head. Many Web developers rushed to update their sites and Web apps to mimic the UI put forth by iOS. Aside from the look, the sites now needed to work with the touchscreen. This presented certain challenges when it came to sites that wanted to look more like native applications.

We are now on the cusp of the next leap. The Web has turned into an operating system. Google is capitalizing on this with their Chrome OS. Countless other companies are selling everything in “the Cloud.” I believe this drive is the natural progression towards a decentralized computing platform. We are no longer tied to our computers for our information. We can check our Gmail, work on our Dropbox-stored documents and share pictures on Flickr from any computer or smartphone in the world. This new operating system now needs proper applications.

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