A colleague uses the Puffin browser on his android because it supports web games otherwise un-runnable. (I thought about using it for google voice since google blocks certain features when mobile is detected and proceeds assuming the mobile has an active phone carrier, which none of my 6 mobile devices does. Btw, why is browser app not compatible with iTouch as stated in app store.)
I looked into Puffin further. It really stretches the boundary of a native app, not in a good way. To support local features (like handling a file type), it outsources the processing to a server. So they will enable/disable local browsers features at their whim (like during the Olympics), which violates several paragraphs in Apples app guidelines (which is a sham anyway). Also, your local browser could be down when their servers go down. Quite a paradigm shift for "local" app. I would say Puffin is a SAAS browser, but its a clever response to the arbitrary restrictions on mobile devices. Industry leaders should like this trend because SW can turn in subscription revenue streams. On the other hand, gatekeepers (like app store) want their protection money revenue stream for subscription-based apps as stated in iphone dev agreement.
I think everyone should put their mobile on airplane mode once in a while and see which of their apps behave like local apps.
What if we extend this to area where my mind frolics--mobile apps connecting to a LAN server web app. The mobile app gains functionality and processing from the LAN server as well as download new features. All of this is against Apple rules IF it were from the publishers servers. But saying that the app is enabling USER-authored (developed) modules should create a loop hole and put the law on the users side. (Don't be naive, corporations buy laws like dinner mints with spare change.) How's that for a paradigm shift.
ReplyDeleteBut in today's world, it is a thousand times easier for an end-user to set up a LAN web app on a mobile device than on a windows box. And a hundred times easier to set up a web app on the cloud than on a windows box.
Hey that's a thought--a mobile app that sets up LAN or cloud web app.