Another company shuts down its app to focus on the mobile web.
“We’ve got have an app!” – businesses everywhere
But do they, really? Or is an app just a lazy way of making a mobile-friendly website?
I was reminded of this earlier this week when TransUnion canned its TrueIdentity app. The app allowed people to lock/unlock their credit report on TransUnion.
The company said it shut down the app because “we’ve focused on building an enhanced mobile experience on our website”.
Google has also started shutting down its apps. The company terminated its Adsense apps to focus on its mobile experience. Google said it makes more sense to focus its resources on one common platform (the web) rather than three (iOS, Android).
That said, businesses might benefit from maintaining apps because it’s like getting a bookmark on customers’ mobile phones. People are more likely to use a service if they see an icon on their phone whenever they use it.
Joseph Peterson says
This was the very question I’ve been asking myself lately with regard to a project I’m working on. And I drew the same conclusion, right or wrong – that a mobile-friendly website would get the job done for people who navigate to it, but having an app on someone’s phone would spur engagement.
L says
You can pin an icon to the desktop of most phone now that will take you to the web app. Just in case you didn’t know 🙂
Lifesavings.online says
Right. I tried telling this to some .app crazy guy. He has a PDF with a whole bunch of points.
I took the time to read, and point out falsehoods to him. He basically told me to to F’Off. Literally, that’s what this whole industry is based on. I’m not kidding when I say, most everything being spread around is a lie.
Now in this case, you’re right. There are simple scripts that goes as far as detecting what OS they are using (etc) and give them an icon, EXACTLY as if it were an app. It’s just a quick-link to a website.
You can program this onto ANY website, to detect the OS and prompt them to put the short-cut on their home screen. Potentially MORE effective method than having a dedicated app and trying to convince them to download!
Keen developers like Google test all this. They know. You calculate average time on site an delay this popup based on your specific data. It’s even possible to have it show on their REPEAT visit (not bother them the first time).
APP replacing web is a total pipe-dream just like .mobi was. Same fools falling for same garbage.
Yes, people will use APP domains. But it’s not this golden child TLD that will be the domination next to .com. It won’t work like that at all.
.COM dies a death of 1,000 cuts. That’s what’s going to happen. APP = OVERBLOWN.
Everyone looking at GENERIC extensions but in the middle of it all, the big/easy money is going to had with the few good domains within niche exts.
Jack says
You’re jumping the gun. Depends on the app and its users. Most companies would fail if they made their next release a web app. It’s like calling car companies dumb unless their vehicles, starting immediately, need to be electric. Now is not the time for most apps to go fully web.
L says
Indeed there is no longer need for native apps imho and the case for ditching them grows as the gap between native apps and mobile web experiences increases. Google is one of the ones at the forefront of making this happen with PWAs and other native experiences from web apps.
It might improve the outlook for .app as one may perceive a web app as ‘an app’ in the future. Emphasis on might.
Jamie Zoch says
So, can somebody call an image link to a website an “app” or put a fancy term to it for ease of function and action? New things are invented everyday.
Mark Thorpe says
No or maybe.
Mobile web #1. Desktop #2.
App only if you have a medium-to-large company IMO.
Apps are too much of a pain to develop and maintain. They can also cost a lot of money.
Robert Davis says
I had written noted today that some of the largest threats against higher rates of adoption in our industry for rare and premium domain names would include:
1) The negative impact from Facebook in stimulating platform use over dedicated website use, as an alternative pathway for business participation online. However it comes at some cost, whether that be maximizing organic positioning advantages, or in subjecting businesses to a platform that is oddly inefficient given the billions of dollars stripped away from it over the years. Wow do we deserve more innovation from our “billionaire” class.
2) Amazon on its monopoly tear, anti-competitive positioning, and encouragement of single-platform ecommerce integration. Only Bezos can reduce benefits and slash affiliate programs to the core (during COVID no less), while generating billions daily in personal income, as he builds secret bases disguised as clock towers in the side of mountains. Tackling homelessness may be “beneath him”, but anti-trust work that saw his beginnings come as Google shut off all bids on billions of longtail keyword strings for years, and then dumped them in mass into the Amazon creation, still needs to be investigated.
3) And of course Google, for perverting search engine rankings in favor of forced pay-per-click adoption, diminishing the total market capacity for intelligent SEM/SEO strategies to create a better Internet, and being one of the worst run organizations on the planet, if you compare who they are with what they could become. As well as the thousands of project tombstones they left behind to preserve their market share. Someday get a stock program that lets you see the total amount in share sale strategies stripped out of the world by a handful of individuals, and then ask yourself if we got a good deal for the trillions they have hoarded. Only Google could make ten million people call their friends, and ask them to remove old hyperlinks to their favorite fishing resort, because it reflected badly on their numerical projections for keyword ranking. Then we wonder why a handful of monopolies are ruling the world.
The encouragement of stand alone apps without any correlated web basis would have been in the top 5 likely, but at the risk of user marginalization that would be countered by smarter web engagements as a universal strategy. I’d be also remiss to not mention Apple’s famous recent quote that got them in hot water, being the proclamation of the “death of the desktop”. One of the greatest gifts of this generation is in being able to program and allow for widescreen convergence online, incorporating larger monitors with amazing resource applications that can drive new worlds. Instead we are left with a half dozen organizations that push attention spans into 3″ x 5″ read out panels, while billions of dollars in PPC fraud slide through with zero notice or warranted attention.
Good luck with that.
Oret says
App is a term used for software , the times where you make a distinction between mobile app, desktop app or any piece of software having some processing logic are gone – it is called device independence. Does your company have a software or app they are offering to market? For example cities.app/ny/restaurants could give you a list of restaurants in NY based on your location. Are people interested typing / pointing directly to a specific URL like this? Most likely not, but given app ecosystems (Apps linking) are building fast and search engines need to URLs to work, short generic domain names working in as routers to specific information are likely to increase in value.
Vin says
It’s a natural progression. The idea of mobile apps that have to be developed on multiple platforms separately is a very bad idea. And that’s when .APP becomes handy because every app will need to have a domain name. Imagine that.
Alan Built says
An APP functions quicker and needs less data transfer with the web.
L says
I don’t think I agree. You need to download an entire app from the app store when you can just download the bits you need for the stuff you are using with a web app and you get the luxury of caching in the browser.
tjaenis says
Lot of interesting opinions. Personally, I would take the view (underline the word view) that given the growth of the .app (not in terms of registered domains), but in terms of increase in google results when doing search query on “site:*.app” .app has been very successful compared to other TLDs. The web app (or e.g. PWA) is becoming a standard (see Luna established for iOS on games), see thefutureis.app for the post on iOS. Where as .com indicates a company or commerce, .app is a direct reference to a platform using a keyword much more associated with a platform (or piece of software) than .com will ever be. Times are changing, rapidly.