Thinking about the future of the web needs to include thinking about native mobile applications (for Apple, Android, Windows, and other mobile devices. More startups and services are launching as app-only, only possibly adding a web version later as it spreads. But the web is still the home base and a necessity for the vast majority of both individuals and companies. Why? There are a few important things to consider. Companies and individuals alike prefer to push users to their owned native apps, where they can better control the environment and experience without worrying as much about device or browser versions, or distractions in different tabs. But currently, downloading a branded app requires a good deal of trust on the part of the user. They need to already be a customer of that brand and have some loyalty to it, to be willing to use up memory card space, add another icon to their curated menu, and allow a program to download and update itself on their device. Users won’t wait the 5 minutes it takes to download and install just to check out a new brand; they have to know they will make a purchase or otherwise interact with it pretty regularly. It will take the better part of a decade, at least, before users are comfortable using an app as their introduction to a brand, and brands need to find a way to engage and keep interest until then.
Apps are also less discoverable than websites – Google searches and social shares, where consumers find new brands/products/services, can’t pull content from inside the app itself. It’s especially unlikely that social apps like Facebook and Twitter will ever want to allow for these kinds of posts, as they would prefer users spend more time within their own app (like Facebook's in-app browser) instead of being pushed to another one. And even with a recent surge in smartphone usage, "smartphone rates in advanced economies still have plenty of room to grow" (Poushter, 2016) with U.S. ownership only 72%. Even for brands trying specifically to reach younger audiences, ownership among 18-34-year-olds is holding at 92%. Tech advances are also making more and more functions available in browser that were once only available in desktop or native applications, including interaction tech that will be discussed later; browser-based alternatives to desktop/mobile applications like Google Docs (Microsoft Office) and Spotify (iTunes); technologies like Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages that are filling the speed gap between browsers and apps. Developers of all stripes will continue to struggle with what the true “future” of digital information is, but websites and browsers will be the backbone of search, interaction, and information for the next few generations.