The mobile app boom is over

Mobile apps boom was clearly started by Phone introduced 2007 (there were some attempts earlier but they were not hat successful). The mobile app boom kicked off in July 2008, when Apple introduced the App Store.  Not it seems that the interest in apps seems to be fading. Recode article The app boom is over tells that your phone is full of apps, and you’re done downloading new ones — unless they’re something very special (for example Snapchat or Uber). People are still making plenty of apps, of course. And many people are still downloading them. But the go-go growth days are gone — the average American smartphone user downloads zero apps per month. Even the very biggest app publishers are seeing their growth slow down or stop.

It seems that people just are fed up to install just another app to their already memory full phone (this has happened to me). Maybe this was one reason why Google unveils Android Instant Apps that launch immediately, no installation required. Google envisions use cases related to visiting a place infrequently, or even just once. An app could offer a superior experience to a mobile site, such as when you want to pay for parking, when you’re visiting a museum, or when you’re spending the day at an amusement park. But most people don’t want to download a full-blown app for such times, nor do they want it to stay on their phone after they’re done with it.

Sometimes tradiotnal web technologies on mobile screen are seen better than apps. An extreme case for this tha that Britain banned mobile apps inUK Government Digital Services because mobile apps were very expensive to produce, and they’re very very expensive to maintain.How did the UK reach an increasingly mobile population? Responsive websites, he replies. “For government services that we were providing, the web is a far far better way… and still works on mobile.” Properly designed web sites can adapt to any screen size, work on all devices, and are open to everyone to use regardless of their device. “If you believe in the open internet that will always win” That is how good digital services designed and built these days.