I just read the NY Times article The Death of the Open Web after it popped up in my Facebook feed from Mitch Joel. The article draws a close comparison between Apple’s app store and the romanticization of the suburb during the 20th century. It’s a good comparison too, I really see where they’re coming from.
However I think the app store is more like the rise of the urban condominium.
Like the suburban development, they have an air of exclusivity. They’re (in theory) kept in pristine order. There’s a friendly security guard at the front desk to keep out the rabble. Clean carpets to pad your stroll to the elevator. After you ascend to your 16th floor luxury condo unit, you’re isolated from the unclean city with a clear window to look down upon it. Of course, management tells you what colour drapes you need to hang in that window.
Condo neighbourhoods, like those along Toronto’s lakeshore, are another type of urbanism, just like apps are another type of web access. Apps are tailored in every way to bring the best experience possible to your iPhone or iPad. They save time, they maintain your device’s look and feel, and optimize the content of the web for your user interface.
Apps are made to be convenient. A swipe or two of your finger, a tap of the screen and you get the content you want.
I really doubt people are upset with the experience of the open web. They see the benefits of an application. While people moved to suburbs to escape from the city and the crowds, it wasn’t really more convenient (especially before the strip malls and box stores followed).
But I agree, there’s the potential for the “Open Web” to become ignored as users migrate away from accessing the web through their browser to using a variety of apps.
With the App Store, Android Market, Xbox Live, Playstation Network, etc, people are becoming accustomed to making micro-transactions. We’re being trained to accept these $1 or $2 payments for the content, or access to the content, that we want. And that used to be available for free.
On the other hand, while free, it used to only be available through our desktop PC at home or at work.
If I seem like I’m flip-flopping on my argument, I guess I am. I not for nor against applications. I don’t want to lose the freedom of the open web, but I like the service provided by apps. It hasn’t become a one-or-the-other issue to me yet. I’m far more concerned with issues like government censoring, what ISPs can get away with, and Copyright law. This “Open Web” argument around applications seem like a bit of a distraction from bigger issues, really.
Are you ready to boycott the app store to protect the web? Do you like the Android platform, with it’s open door policy for apps and their distribution better than Apple’s?
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