I recently came across a quote from a friend:

Stop building on web, start building on mobile.

If you’re a big fan of the web,  it could rage spark. But if you think deeply, and analyze the quote and the current situation of the web. The ‘web’ and ‘mobile’ is actually asynchronous. If mobile will evolve, so is the web.

Remember the Symbian phones?

Forget about Smartphones! Let’s go back to the days where Nokia rules the world. I can remember that i have been using a web browser to download Java games from a telco website.

As far as i remember, the website that i have been browsing on is not the same site that you will stumble upon these days using a smartphone. It’s responsive. It’s finger friendly. And it’s expensive because back then, there is no such thing as “unlimited” internet. It’s all KB charge, baby!

It’s the iPhone that changed the web

When the first iPhone was launched, it promised to carry a full blown browser on your fingertips. Steve Jobs once said that developers doesn’t need an SDK to build apps on the iPhone. Just use Safari, and you’re good to go.

But things got different when Apple introduced the App Store. And i believe that the unified application store is the only reason why the platform took off.

The web back then has no offline support

Back when the web was young and ‘unlimited’ internet was a dream, users wanted to use apps offline. The iPhone offers safari and developers then can build web apps. But developers aren’t happy. Users aren’t also happy. So Apple took the opportunity to revive the old symbian way on using your app. Get it from an ‘application platform’ and use it offline.

But things are different now.

Firefox OS is here.

Firefox OS is a great example of Web and Mobile working together in harmony. It’s not a dream, nor a beta project. But it’s a real open product. It exist. It’s a living proof that the Web is dead.

In fact, Firefox OS offers an Application Marketplace that is available on both Firefox OS and Firefox for Android, you are not tied to one platform. Firefox OS also offers offline capabilities for your apps. WebGL is also an interesting technology that works on Firefox OS when making advanced graphics. Firefox OS also offers cross platform notification that works on all platform.

And if you really want to monetize your ‘web app’ you can simply use Apache Cordova to port it to other platforms.

The web is matured and it keeps getting better

The web is accessible for all. It keeps getting better and better. It’s an open platform that everyone can dive in and contribute.

Instead of choosing and comparing Apple and Oranges, wouldn’t be nice if we just use the right tools for the right job?