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I don't see how this conversation is really about apps vs. websites. It's really about content and value -- and in a way, discoverability and marketing. Like the article says, most apps are never downloaded. It stands to reason that websites are nearly never visited. Those that are, are found through search results, advertisements, or out-of-band knowledge (e.g. friend recommendation) Even the examples are not helpful: Alibaba is a market leader. Weather.com is a market leader. I've never heard of Housing.com, but they have one of the best, most valuable, most-obvious domain names in the world. Perhaps they increased conversations and reduced user friction, but these platforms could have only lost business to those of their competitors who clear the bar of 'discovered', 'advertised', and get those user conversions in turn. Quoting their smaller competitors would be far more impactful of the article's point. The fact is, the app boom is clearly over, top apps dominate user traffic, and it's even harder to become a breakout hit than it was in the past. But native apps still have their uses: seamless homescreen presence, sophisticated layouts (drinking game: drink every time someone brings up flexbox as a counterpoint), offline operation (using mature tech, not serviceworkers), integration into iOS preferences, integration into Android intents, OS-native permission control, etc. These advantages are not negligible over browser-based solutions. |