I read recently where the Financial Times has dropped their Apple app in favor of HTML5. Apple requires a 30% cut off the top to use their iOS and the FT decided that their profit margin less the 30% wasn't an economically viable arrangement. FT also wasn't getting enough hits on their app. Since switching to HTML5 things have brightened up considerably.
Some of the 'in the know' pundits have predicted that the web, as we know it, is dead or dying. However, FT may have proved that the demise is premature. In any case HTML5 may be a trend for publishers who don't like apps, so don't get rid of your browsers … yet.
This leads me into a brief discussion of the "Good Enough Revolution". Good Enough has evolved out of the necessity to control costs and today's consumer preferences. "Cheap, fast, simple tools …" is the consumers credo. We no longer want to do long reads of owners manuals and we no longer want to pay higher prices for marginal increases in quality. As Shirley MacLaine said in Postcards From The Edge, "The problem with immediate gratification, is that it is not fast enough."
Sources:
Get over it, haters- apps really are the future, says Wired publisher
The Good Enough Revolution: When Cheap and Simple Is Just Fine
Idea of the Day
Web journey complete, FT switching off iOS app
Why Publishers Don't Like Apps
Financial Times exec: iOS apps don't work for publishers
The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet
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