It seems more and more likely to me that all the buzz over building desktop applications in Adobe Air is just that: buzz.
I find myself increasingly using my mobile device (iPhone) in the same capacity I would have used a desktop client, pre-iPhone. While I initially played around with running Twitter in Twhirl, an Air-based client, that infatuation didn’t last long. Turns out that tabs in Firefox work just fine for toggling and I much prefer having acess to the full application rather than a limited version.
What’s also been surprising to me is how often I use my iPhone as a second or third screen, complementing use of my laptop. For example I often check email on my iPhone even while using a laptop; this is especially true if I’m engrossed in a spreadsheet or PowerPoint. I prefer reading feeds in Google Reader on the iPhone and I believe the idea of micro-sizing content and ‘flow‘ works just as well running an iPhone app as it does running an Air app on the desktop.
Plus if the Air or client version of your product is more simple and/or cleaner than the full application, shouldn’t that be telling you something?
In September, Joost killed off its desktop app entirely. This Compete.com chart shows traffic for Twhirl having dropped off drastically, even as the popularity of Twitter overall has surged…less than a year ago Techcrunch stated that Twitter desktop clients were in an arms race for market share…it doesn’t seem that way any more:
Am I wrong? Do you remain as excited about desktop applications as you were a year ago?
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
I'm going to have to disagree with you there; there is still value in desktop applications, and there is certainly value in AIR.
While web applications have become much more dominant in the past few years, you are still restricted to a browser, which has its own strict interface applied to it. The biggest revolution we've seen in browsers in the past few years is the tabbed interface. Wow.
AIR itself has utility as a platform-independent technology. While AIR got a lot of crap (and people claiming that it was just buzz), people have come to see real value in the ability to write an application that runs anywhere. It has accomplished what Java tried to, but failed at.
And I love twhirl :-)
I've been seriously debating with myself if I should or should not get an iPhone and I'm seeing that I really must. I live in Google reader as well and if you think that the applications for it are that good then I'm starting the pool to close my current Verizon acct (terrible) and go with AT&T and the iPhone.
Thanks alot.
I don't want to be a downer but with the recession won't people want to spend less on iphone rather than it flourishing more? Or will it still be widely used for business purposes? I guess the economy put the recession scare into me.
I don't know about that…rumor is that the iPhone price could drop to
$99/ and an iPhone is a cheap alternative to a lapto…especially for
people in emerging markets. Plus relative to its functionality it's
hard to argue the iPhone doesn't pay for itself quickly
Going to see if AT&T will pay for my Verizon cancellation…nice.
Hey Ryan! Do it man, you won't be disappointed. The iPhone saves you time which equals money
What about Flock? They do some cool stuff outside of tabs, right?
So if you had a client on a limited budget, do you suggest a desktop client or a solid iPhone app?
Flock does some cool stuff – same with Firefox plugins. And, Flock is still just a desktop application – all the real content and activity lies within the tabbed interface.
It depends on what the client wanted – but I would never rule out a desktop tool.
The BBC is using AIR as it's download to desktop catch up tv service.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2008/12/...
The BBC is using AIR as it's download to desktop catch up tv service.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2008/12/...
Everything becomes outdated at some point. With the way things are going now, applications are going to become dated even faster.
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