Nokia’s new N9 phone based on MeeGo looks wonderful and according to Engadget, it’s a delight to use as well. But supposedly it’s dead on arrival because it’s not going to have a massive platform. Excuse my french, but fuck the platform.
For all the 200,000 apps in Apple’s app store, I use two on a regular basis: Echofon and Bloomberg. Once in a while, I use Instapaper and play Civilization. And yet I use my iPhone all the time. It’s my favorite piece of technology and has been for years.
Do you know why? Because Apple nailed the basics. Safari, Camera, iPod, Clock, Weather, Photos, Messages, Mail, and Maps are the apps that I use 95% of the time. Those are the ones that made me buy the phone and stick with it. If I had to read Bloomberg on the web and couldn’t play Civilization, I’d be sad, but my day would surely go on.
I know I’m not alone. The pattern I’ve seen for many people new to iOS is a rush to try a bunch of apps and then never use most of them again. There’s a large market for people who just want the core ten apps executed even better. I’d be happy to trade my iPhone for a N9, if that core experience was stronger.
But the established wisdom now is that you cannot win without hundreds of thousands of apps. And unfortunately Nokia bought that “wisdom” and now they’re just going to become a WinPhone distributor with benefits. Woopedidoo.
Glenn Gillen
on 22 Jun 11Totally agree, and the same is true of my iPad. It’s got a couple of extra games on it, but at the end of the day there is definitely less than 20 apps combined on both devices that I’ve used more than 3 times.
JD
on 22 Jun 11I’m down to only two 3rd party apps on my iPhone. I wish I could remove a few of the Apple ones.
DHH
on 22 Jun 11JD, totally. I wish I could get rid of Compass, Game Center, and Calendar. Never use them. Next best thing is to just park them in a folder and at least they don’t take up much space.
ggwicz
on 22 Jun 11Couldn’t agree more. And WTF is the Compass for?
Dylan
on 22 Jun 11I agree with this and use my iPhone in the same way. That said, the way the iPhone works with iTunes, iPad and Apple TV would make it difficult to switch platform for me. I love the deep integration.
Can other mobile platforms somehow break into that?
Arik Fraimovich
on 22 Jun 11I think that each one of the iPhone users has his 2-3 apps (besides the stock apps) that he uses on a daily basis. For me it’s Instapaper and Twitter, for you it’s Twitter and Bloomberg.
The point is that you don’t need 200K apps, you need just enough of diverse quality apps. The app count arms race is just something Apple started because they knew it sounds good and they’re winning it.
raf
on 22 Jun 11This is why my gf’s first-gen iPhone is all she needs and she’s not looking to upgrade.
Strangely, even the the battery is still going strong after 3 years.
Aaron M
on 22 Jun 11@ggwicz haha, seriously. Like David, I keep most of the default apps in a folder called unused. Mail, calendar, contacts, maps and safari are my bigger ones for sure. With things like Angry birds, twitteriffic, camera, and sleep cycle as well.
Ben
on 22 Jun 11DHH, just out of curiosity: how do you survive without Calendar?
matthew
on 22 Jun 11DHH, I couldn’t agree with you more. There is far too much posturing on (read: obsession with) the size of a platform’s app store. I use an Android device, and I use the same basic apps that you do on the iPhone—> mail, messages, calendar, browser, weather widget, camera and a music player.
DHH
on 22 Jun 11Ben, I use the Backpack Calendar. It’s a hassle to use from Mobile Safari, but I rarely use my Calendar on the phone. Backpack calendar sends me email reminders and that’s all I need.
Davert
on 22 Jun 11Well, I don’t have a smartphone, because I don’t need it. Right, I use 2 apps – phone & alarm. But If I have one for sure I want to have one that can be easily extended, thus, a good OS and Market is a must-have feature.
Mike
on 22 Jun 11@DHH
This mindset can also be applied to the desktop as well.
I’m on Windows 7, which I actually do like, but in all reality – I only use about 2 desktop applications at all (if you count Microsoft Office as a single application).
Which is why Apple is starting to win back the desktop war as well.
It doesn’t matter that Microsoft has a larger ecosystem of desktop applications – as long as you nail the key basics (web browser, end user experience).
John
on 22 Jun 11For some this may be true but for most users there’s a hugely embarrassing situation when their buddy shows off a hot new app and they can’t get it on their phone. With iPhone and Android you can almost always get at least an equivalent app.
Tony
on 22 Jun 11I agree with Arik. It’s not the 2 apps you use, is the aggregate of all the different 2 apps all the different users use that adds up to multiple hundreds of thousands of apps.
Tomson
on 22 Jun 11I think you just doubled the size of said market.
Gordon
on 22 Jun 11@DHH … I agree in principle with your point but the fallout from having a poor platform is that the OS is rarely maintained. I would argue that because apple and android are thriving platforms, the vendors/carriers are more likely to support OS updates (including updates to the core apps you mentioned). So do I care about the platform? Only enough that so apple does and guarantees updates for the lifetime of my phone (aligns with two year contract). Especially in the mobile browser space as each revision brings enhanced support for CSS3 and HTML5 and faster JavaScript.
techie
on 22 Jun 11I disagree. Nokia should at least provide a tempting platform to attract developers and maintain it. It’s not just whether you use 2-3 apps or 100 apps, but you are having an option to try out the hot game or app. That is what called smart phone. When you buy a smart phone you are making an investment either as a long-term contract or one time device cost.
And you don’t want to stare at your phone when your friends are asking whether you got the current ‘hot app’ to share/play with you!
Mike Glass
on 22 Jun 11Just went through the list of third party apps I use daily. There’s 14. At least a few times a month, 10 more. That’s just on my iPhone, in addition to the built in apps, and not counting games, of which I have 3 or 4 that I’ll play casually when I have some down time. I do have a lot of apps on the phone that I don’t use much at all (and a few I never use and should just delete already), but I’m often glad they’re there when I need them.
Ten apps may be all you need. I need at least 35. The N9 platform might not limit you, but it would limit me. With the iPhone, we can both use the same phone, and you use your 10 and I use my 35 and we can both be happy. And that’s why the platform matters.
hassan voyeau
on 22 Jun 11Exactly. I can say the same thing about my blackberry.
Jim Murphy
on 22 Jun 11I agree that there are about 3 non-core apps. But, which ones? The ones you listed I don’t use.
The real power is in co-opting the early adopter/digerati/hipster “ecosystem” to tie many individual successes to the success of the iphone. This “in it together” mentality is part of what makes the iphone promoted far and wide – over and above the core features. Its also why RIM is sucking wind right now – lack of ecosystem
Will
on 22 Jun 11I just counted and I use about 15 non-Apple apps regularly. A few of those I probably could use some mobile-optimized HTML version and get more or less the same experience, but mostly they wouldn’t work unless they were native.
And that doesn’t even count the games, which aren’t “critical” but they are certainly fun.
I think people are focused on the platform because that’s pretty much has determined the long term winner in the past.
Slava
on 22 Jun 11That’s why I prefer my HTC Android phone to my Ipad 99% of the time. I have a few 3rd party apps, like, may be, a dozen, I don’t need a thousand. These 10 apps work okay for me, and that’s it. I stopped visiting Market and App store long ago – because I already have apps that I need. Give me another phone, another OS which does the same 10 functions better than Android, I’ll buy it.
David Gerard
on 22 Jun 11Sing it. I bought a BlackBerry 9300, knowing it’s a dead platform walking, because of one overwhelming reason: it’s the only smartphone I have ever used that did not make me want to smash it to bits with a toffee hammer. THAT is a KILLER FEATURE.
It is the best music player I have ever owned, doing Ogg and FLAC as well as mp3 and AAC. The .mobi book reader is great, and I just wish it did epub. I can read my Gmail on it if I have to!
It has a telephone in it, but I can forgive it for that, particularly since I leave the radio switched off most of the time and just switch it on a few times a day to check for voicemail or texts.
Matthew
on 22 Jun 11Dear Compass,
You are the only iphone app I used over the last 4 days. Ignore the haters, I still love you.
Adam
on 22 Jun 11The most important 3rd party app on my iPhone is the SiriusXM app so I can listen to Howard Stern.
Matt Henderson
on 22 Jun 11Hi David, not really related, but just wanted to mention that if you like Bloomberg, you might also like the Economist app (if you haven’t checked it out).
Pablo
on 22 Jun 11This entry should be titled “Fuck the platform”
Will
on 22 Jun 11Well, I guess you’re one type of user. I, OTOH, am very much into apps on iPhone. I’m an avid iphonographer and have a whole page devoted to still and video editing apps. Yes, I use almost all of them to craft my pics. I also use on a near-daily basis Twitter, Facebook, Evernote, Yelp, All Recipes, Vevo, Dropbox, ooTunes, Maps, Google, Weather, Clock, Stocks, HP10BII (Calculator replacement), and compass (Yes, I use compass almost every day for determining facings of buildings). I also have Odesk, Wordpress, CraigsPro Free, and Skype. I haven’t even gotten to the games page which is rotating with Sudoku and Tower Defense games.
Guess I’m an Appmonster.
Andy
on 22 Jun 11If your statement about “I’d be happy to trade my iPhone for a N9, if that core experience was stronger.” is true you should be using a Nexus S 4G now.
Have you tried one? After using Nexus S 4G for 12 days all core apps, in my opinion, are better then iPhone.
The one core “app” that was not for me was signal availability and strength in one of the areas I use a mobile phone most often.
Activation is a breeze, don’t need to hookup to a computer. Understand ios5 is going to take care of that and the notifications.
Not only did I find the software better, especially email, but found the hardware better as well. Location of power button, a back button, and a menu button all seemed to fit the way I use a phone better. It does feel a little “cheaper” due I think mainly to it’s lighter weight.
Not an apple hater either. Have 2 ipads and 2 ipod touches in the house.
Steven
on 22 Jun 11I don’t agree because I think the app ecosystem is an important part of the phone experience. You’re argument that you only use 10 apps and that makes you happy. Most on these comments agree with your argument, but list different apps they use. If there were only the basic apps in the iPhone ecosystem, would they be as happy as you with the experience? Likely not because we are all different and have different needs. The breadth of that app ecosystem is part of what makes nearly everyone happy with their iPhone experience.
DHH
on 22 Jun 11Andy, I’ve use a handful of Android devices. Most recently a Xoom tablet. I returned it the very next day. To me, Android executes the basics MUCH worse than the iPhone. I find the software to be less polished, more buggy, etc.
Phildrone
on 22 Jun 11This reminds me of the comment Joel Spolsky made regarding MS Word and why it hadn’t been replaced by a more focused word processor that did “only the core features”. His argument was that while it sounds nice, everyone’s definition of “core” is completely different. Seems to playing out here as well, you need Echofon and Bloomberg, another needs Yelp and a HPCalc, etc. Doctors want all the medical related apps. Musicians want all the tuner apps, and Capo etc. The point is, it’s not as easy as it looks to define a “core” experience.
zeus
on 22 Jun 11@Dylan Compas came very handy when I was house hunting….east facing house was very imp. for me :)
Grant
on 22 Jun 11Unless we’ve all forgotten, this is how the iPhone got started. Remember Steve Jobs telling us we didn’t need 3rd-party apps?
A platform makes things sexier from a marketing perspective, but I don’t think lack of one should keep a good device from getting off the ground.
If anything, Apple themselves benefitted from a full year to solidify iOS before opening it up to developers.
jeff
on 22 Jun 11You know who else tried the ‘we only need the core apps’ argument? Palm. Yeah, that worked out well. The problem is that to be viable, a platform needs ongoing support from a:the manufacturer and b:the network vendors. The public comes third and only matters a little. The model is push to customer not pull (except iPhone). The networks will only stock a phone that has a viable ecosystem, the ecosystem will only be viable if enough devs work on it, devs will only work on a platform that excites them, is active (not maemo) and can make them money (to rip off marco arment).
In terms of 3rd party apps I use, there are only a few, but as others have said my few is different to your few. Aggregate everyone’s top five and you end up with a big number, even if you only include geeks. See firstand20.com
Freddy Bob
on 22 Jun 11Fuck is, or was, a German word, not French.
Ryan Cannon
on 22 Jun 11The ten apps you need are not the ten apps I need. I think that’s the point of the platform.
Patrick Aljord
on 22 Jun 11I would have thought the basecamp app would be one of your most used app. Isn’t that supposed to compete with email or something? ;)
Matt
on 22 Jun 11The N9 looks great too. One thing that I’m surprised isn’t more apparent that most i-phone competitors don’t understand is their phones need to both look great and need to NOT look like iPhones. Otherwise consumers see them as merely iPhone knockoffs. i think the N9 achieves both of these goals.
jason
on 22 Jun 11I just had the same epiphany when I switched from the Droid to the Windows Phone. The droid might have more market share and more apps, but I only use a few core ones and they work much better and smoother on Windows Phone. Email is better, Zune is better for synching music, photos and podcasts, etc, Kindle works fine and so does Netflix and games.
Jason Lotito
on 22 Jun 11If I had to read Bloomberg on the web and couldn’t play Civilization, I’d be sad
Andrew Ogg
on 22 Jun 11This is a typical “I don’t think I need it, so nobody should need it post”. For the “core” that only want 10 apps, their is a much larger “core” (the real core) that want more.
This is shown by the fact that:
1) The sales of the AppStore are huge, the numbers are too massive to ignore. Users love buying apps.
2) The fact that Apple estimates that upwards of 50% of it’s iPhone users never sync their phone to iTunes once after first purchase means that a huge number of users don’t have personal computers. The iPhone IS their computer, so of course they’re going to want more than base functionality
3) As much as you guys don’t like to admit it, Native is a better experience than Web. If two apps are of like quality, the Native app will always give a better experience. You said yourself that you use Basecamp Calendar but you don’t use it on your phone because the experience sucks on Mobile Safari, by far the best mobile browser on the market.
Does the app store need 200,000? No, but it does need enough to attract users, especially those without PCs at home. Twitter, FourSquare, Facebook, Instagram, games, etc. these are things people use every day that run beautifully on the iPhone.
Jason Lotito
on 22 Jun 11My previous comment was butchered by your commenting software. It left in only the quote, and removed the actual comment.
Regardless, the point was simple: Your ten apps aren’t the same as my ten apps. Basically what you are saying is: Fuck the platform that makes you happy, defend the platform that makes you sad.
Michael Long
on 22 Jun 11Then I guess we didn’t need the App Store after all, did we? I mean, Apple apparently “nailed” the core apps on the original iPhone. Who needed more?
Most of us, I guess.
As has been said, you have a few core apps you use, I have quite a few different apps I use, and that’s a different set from the ones on my girlfriend’s phone.
Not to mention that you and I might have a different viewpoint on what features a given app might need. For example, I went through quite a few “grocery” apps before I found the one with the feature set I wanted.
Are you into photography? Flying? Sailing? Are you an engineer? Writer? Developer? Do you not want apps that help you out and make your life easier?
Multiple different feature sets with multiple apps in multiple categories in many fields…. and you end up with a large app universe.
Settle for only a few core functions, and you might as well own a dumbphone….
Michael Long
on 22 Jun 11@Matt: If you want an “original” look, then why knockoff the iPad nano with an oversized plastic substitute?
Albert Freeman
on 22 Jun 11I would be very happy if I could browse, watch a movie, listen to music, do email and read a PDF on a page size that was 8 1/2×11 or A4. I don’t need anything smaller or larger and I don’t need apps. What I do need is a lot of storage space (way more than the measly 64 Gig in an iPad) and more freedom in loading info to the pad.
Alex Le
on 22 Jun 11This is why the platform is important – because everyone has 2 DIFFERENT 3rd party apps that they rely on. Yours are echofon and bloomberg. Everyone elses are DIFFERENT. There are different people out there in the world DHH. App variety matters.
Alexander
on 22 Jun 11Agree, it’s the same with my computer. Apart from a bunch of applications that I need for development, there are just a handful applications one need: calendar, browser, mail, skype and a few more is all one usually need.
HGP
on 22 Jun 11It annoys me that core apps Clock & Calculator were removed from the iPad. I needed those!
Carlos da Silva
on 22 Jun 11Hey David, today seems to be one of those days “you are not working in something you’re inspired”. Isn’t it? Cheers.
Josh Ledgard
on 22 Jun 11I think the bigger concern would be that they won’t do much bug fixing or updates to those 9 core apps on these Nokia phones.
Russ
on 22 Jun 11@dhh you need to walk over to att and grab the Samsung Infuse. Best phone I have owned. Much better then iphone and not controlled by ios. How can you use a device where 4 clicks are needed to turn on/off wifi? I bet the iphone 5 will steal sb settings logic anyway, as android did.
César Salazar
on 22 Jun 11Ten websites is all I need. Why is people still developing websites, and content and apps if I only use less than 10 on a daily basis!!! David, you’re missing the point. Not all 200,000 apps were developed for you. The world is much larger and diverse.
Michael
on 22 Jun 11The most important takeaway is that Civilization exists on the iPhone. That’s excellent news.
Billy
on 22 Jun 11What a load of tripe.
Just ‘cause you only use 10 apps doesn’t mean the rest of the world has to conform to your way of thinking.
Personally, when I double-tap the home button to see what’s running, I’m always amazed by how many apps I’ve used during the day.
Jim
on 22 Jun 11I disagree with the general sentiment of the post. Sure phones are great for the core 10 or so things we use (mail, web, music, etc). But what makes a phone fantastic are the specialized and unique capabilities it has. Most of these extra capabilities come with well-developed third party apps. Without fantastic apps, the platform is stagnant, and in the face of competitors, it wouldn’t attract people. It is true, the gross number of apps available is ideally irrelevant, more apps mean more developers, which means more fantastic developers, which means more fantastic apps.
Ivan
on 22 Jun 11You are right, I also use ~10 apps only… but not the same apps as you do. That’s the whole point of the new generation of smart phones, you can customize the environment for you own unique preferences. My old nokia was at least twice cheaper than my iphone and did the most of these basic tasks (phone, sms, email, weather…), and had a battery that runs for 10 days and far better camera. But I didn’t like the design of the built-in app for emails, for instance, and was stuck with it as it was the only one shipped with the phone. Now, while I still use only one app for emails, I have like 20 apps to choose from, so I can find the one that works best for me.
Kazem Edmond
on 22 Jun 11I completely agree. New Android users rush to ask me what apps they should get. I tell them my favorite and most useful app is Google Maps. Gmail, Google Talk, the browser, texting…phone calls. There are some handy apps out there, but I don’t use them.
Eric
on 22 Jun 11Can’t agree with you on this one. While there’s probably a (tiny) market for phones with no app options, there’s an obvious demand for phones with TONS of app options. If you’re Nokia, who NEEDS large markets, it’s a no-brainer.
Personally, I’d have major misgivings about dropping a couple hundred bucks on a piece of hardware that relies on software SOLELY developed by one developer. I’d feel infinitely more comfortable buying in to a system that has thousands of developers working on it.
Charles
on 22 Jun 11Pandora, 1Password, SoundHound, Tripit, Yelp, Dropbox, Kindle, Netflix, Mint, Weatherbug, Instapaper
Myth that default ten apps is all I need: Busted
Krishna
on 22 Jun 11I only use about 10 web sites/web apps regularly.
Maybe the web only needs 10 sites!
Or maybe everyone is using a different set of sites, and occasionally using some when the need or urge arises.
Yeah the N9 demoed well, and Meego Harmattan looks nice. But I think more than half the appeal of the N9 is the sexy Nokia industrial design. Marry that to a platform that actually does have apps, made by a vendor that actually understands how to manage and foster 3rd party developer relationships, and I think Elop made the right call.
Dan Lewis
on 22 Jun 11I run lots of apps on my Android phone. I did buy it so I could install whatever I want on it. Here are a few samples that I use regularly.
Netflix, HBO, PDF reader VuDroid, guitar tuner gStrings, gobandroid (a go program and SGF editor), the Amazon apps, Dropbox, geocaching program c:geo, SSH with ConnectBot, VNC for my TV/Mac Mini. And dozens of timewasters.
For me the great thing about these phones is that they become digital multitools. It feels fun and right to reach for the universal device in my pocket rather than having to carry around a chess clock, two kinds of GPSes, a Boxee remote, etc.
pbreit
on 22 Jun 11I could not disagree more. I sort of thought that in the beginning but I think if you take an honest look and really understand the benefit of a vibrant third party app market you will recognize that it is exceedingly important. I have 25 apps alone for my 1 year old which has been life-changing. I use Hulu a lot. And Netflix, Facebook, Pandora, Zipcar, Yammer, Kindle and Skype. I rarely use Shazam but I’m glad it’s there. Same with Prompt, Square and GPS Drive. And I even have a few games that I like now and again.
And this doesn’t even begin to address the perceptual advantage of just knowing that stuff might be out there and is constantly being developed.
Couldn’t disagree more.
J
on 23 Jun 11Re: Compass. I, too, thought it was completely useless until I got lost in Joshua Tree at night.
Anson
on 23 Jun 11Here’s an argument for why the App Store is more than just a provider of enhanced utility: Angry Birds.
I’d bet many of you have bought this app to at least try it – to see what all the fuss is about.
Angry Birds has become part of popular culture and until the more recent Android and web versions, the only way you could experience it was through an iOS device.
We’ve seen many other examples of this kind of app, albeit on smaller scales or within smaller sub-cultures. And despite the wider release of AB I think the precedent will remain for some time—develop and succeed on iOS and branch out to smaller app markets later.
I think Angry Birds is a great illustration of the power of the App Store—it is becoming a pre-requisite for participating in popular culture. To miss out on it may not affect your productivity or whatnot, but there is a cultural cost.
Pete
on 23 Jun 11Mostly agree with David’s points. I have at least 30 apps on my iPhone. Of those, I use 5-6 on a regular basis, half of which were developed by Apple and came pre-installed. I’d rather be able to get the camera app up quicker
The endless variety of the app store is impressive, but there’s so much cruft in there it’s beginning to feel more like an app Walmart. A large fraction are either redundant or slapped together to make a quick buck.
I’d trade the majority of my apps just to have more seamless interaction with those aspects of this device I find most useful; the camera app in particular. It’s perplexing that Apple has just now decided to allow us to use a volume button as a shutter. I’ll forgive that on the basis of the brilliant decision to add a camera shortcut on the lock screen — that is an example of the type of improvements that really make a difference in the everyday utility of these incredible pocket machines.
Whoever masters the art of making it easy for a five-fingered mammal to effortlessly soar through those functions deemed most valuable is who will ultimately earn my dollar.
Christian Romney
on 23 Jun 11Couldn’t agree more. And WTF is the Compass for?
Charles
on 23 Jun 11I’m surprised how many people on use a few third party apps. There are quite a few I use on a normal basis. Reeder, Simplenote, Soulver, Omnifocus, NorikaeAnai (train routes), Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Instagram, Skype, Viber, Bump, WISDOM (Japanese-English dictionary), Stanza and iBooks, Manga Rock, GoodReader, Tokyo Metro, Cyclemeter, Tokyo Bus Anai, Weathernews, Yurekuru (earthquake monitor), Tokyo Art Beat, Eiga Anai (movies), 1Password, Pastebot, DevChart, AirVideo, Pages, Flickit Pro, Anki, Gurunavi/Tabelog (restraunts), Railway Map.
That’s 34 apps, a majority of which get used on a daily basis and the rest at least weekly. I didn’t list the revolving list of games and I have 10 on there now. To be honest I couldn’t imagine switching without replacements for pretty much all of these.
I realize I probably use many more apps on my phone than my laptop. The iPhone really has become my main computing device and I’m not sure how I’d get through a day without it anymore.
Jacob W
on 23 Jun 11I’m in disagreement. I’m one of those that does use a lot of non-Apple apps. In the past week, I’ve used 11 apps. Several of which I’ve had for 2 years, the last being maybe 3 weeks old. That’s not counting games.
And, working at a bar/club, I meet a lot of people. Of the hundreds of people I know with iPhones, I can say with certainty that while they use Apple apps, there are a lot who buy apps. And use a lot of them.
Most gay men have Grindr. If they use the bus, they probably have Stops. Various twitter apps. The ubiquitous Facebook app. Lots of fitness and Nike apps. Astrology among the women. Reading apps. Weird funny apps (Tom the talking cat, etc).
And the straw that broke the camels back in me first buying an iPod touch almost 2 years ago was Stanza, when combined with the now defunct Drinkmalk site.
Nathania
on 23 Jun 11Your argument is based on anecdotal evidence. You and the crowd you run with who happen to own iPhones don’t use apps.
But if you look at any good source of data, the use of apps is on the rise. In fact, it’s still one of the fastest growing tasks for smartphones. Non-game apps even outpace games.
Sure, people use individual apps for awhile and then ditch them. But apps are like books and games in that way.
You don’t just sit around and read the same book or play the same game day in and day out everyday. But when you want to, it’s nice that it’s there.
Fuck the platform all you want, but for many consumers, it really is a big deal.
Asif
on 23 Jun 11But Nokia was never a platform company. Symbian was an awesome platform 10 years ago..no one had it going so good ..and they kept sucking blood out of Symbian because of which they allowed the competition to mushroom.
I was a Nokia Ovi developer for a long long time until we got tired of running around middleman in the mobile marketplace because Nokia did not know how to build the ecosystem right. There was never a Bloomberg app for Ovi, Nokia phones had two cameras 10 years ago but I could never use the front camera and everything else that was promised, could never be used.
It makes a lot of sense that Elop has recognized this early and decided to fight the hardware war with the Chinese vendors rather than run a platform war which they will never win.
Microsoft platform is not the best choice but if it pays them well for the next 3-4 years – might as well take a chance.
jay
on 23 Jun 11I think there is gap in the argument. While we all use just 10+ apps on the phone regularly, the apps are significantly different between different sections of the society. Some have mostly games others mostly mind only social media apps. People with kids have different set of apps. While we dont need 200k different apps, we definitely need apps with specialized usecase to enhance mobile computing experience for a wider audience.
kegan
on 23 Jun 11If this is true.
Then we should see phone that is not a platform (you cannot write software for it), but with strong solid 10 built-in apps … winning over the majority of the users.
Ahad Bokhari
on 23 Jun 11+1, totally agree. Thanks for sharing your thoughts..
Dima Plotnikov
on 23 Jun 11How can I play Angry Birds on N9, if there no EXIT button? Swipe to exit? So how to play?
Devan
on 23 Jun 11Am I the only one that is more than a little bemused that David doesn’t list any of the 37signals iOS apps in his ‘all I need’ list of 10 apps?
What happened to the mantra of ‘using what you build yourself’ so you can better understand the customers needs?
Never mind, I was only (half) kidding. I am in the camp with the others on here that says that everyone’s collection of 10 most used apps collectively will add up to a staggering number of unique apps.
Anonymous Coward
on 23 Jun 11Um, so what are the 10 apps?
The point of having 250k in the app store is probably not that you will use 250k apps, but that it creates a huge gene pool. Instead of just one “calc” app, even though it might be really good, you’ll be able to find one that does things exactly the way you like. And such a huge gene pool is bound to throw up both innovative new apps, and to produce finely honed excellent ones.
Elliot
on 23 Jun 11David
This is a surprisingly conservative and shortsighted viewpoint from a person whose career and business exists and thrives because of a platform – in this case the internet.
A platform is analogous to an economy. It provides an infrastructure on which networks of people trade, specialise, build, create, innovate and solve problems.
The product of this work is to satisfy the infinitely varied needs and desires of the population, however trivial you may determine them to be.
Your comments remind me of the days when people would dismiss the internet as an unnecessary feature of the PC. The fact that your needs are not yet met by the apps available in the AppStore is not a flaw of the platform itself. It is simply the result of the infancy of the economy in question.
DHH
on 23 Jun 11Devan, I use all of our apps every day, I just don’t do so from my phone.
AC, I listed those apps in the 3rd paragraph: Safari, Camera, iPod, Clock, Weather, Photos, Messages, Mail, and Maps
Elliot, it’s quite the opposite. My needs are met by the iPhone, it’s just that those needs ship with the phone, not in the App Store.
Also, there’s a reason this is entitled “Ten apps is all I need” with an emphasis on I. I don’t expect everyone to use a phone the way I do. From the comments here, some certainly do and others don’t. That’s fine. What that is to say is that there’s plenty of room for variations here. For some a big app store is all that matters, for others not so much.
Elliot
on 23 Jun 11David, you also say “fuck the platform” which, I’m sure you’ll agree, is a fairly strong denouncement of the platform itself rather than simply your app preference, and what I was referring to in my comment.
The fact that there are two apps that meet your needs (Echofon and Bloomberg) is a result of the existence of the platform, not in spite of it.
anamika
on 23 Jun 11N9 doesn’t need 200000+apps. What it would needs is quality apps even 1000+ would matter. More apps doesn’t mean more quality.
Allan
on 23 Jun 11No platform needs large amounts of apps anymore. As it is, there are more and more web applications being developed in HTML5 (and this is only going to be more apparent since Apple are starting to add loads of tedious “rules” to their app store).
Maybe soon we’ll all be using the same web applications on our devices instead of getting native applications.
So all you really need to worry about is whether the platform and core apps (browser mainly) are up to the task, what the device looks like and how the device feels. Everything else is just an extra bonus (or marketing hype which you can ignore).
Sachin
on 23 Jun 11if Nokia now fails, I guess it would be on price….I have heard that they are keeping the price point of 650 to 750 $ which may lead to another failure phone launch..
Paul Neave
on 23 Jun 11You seem to be forgetting something:
People like buying stuff.
You may need 10 apps, but you want 1000s.
david
on 23 Jun 11I can only agree. I even gave up my Iphone for the N8 because the camera is beautiful and fast and I have kids which are both, especially fast! The Iphone just left me with blurred shots of where they had been!
francesco
on 23 Jun 11Sure, ten apps (probably less) is all what one (or most people) needs, but those ten apps are probably different from person to person. I use Sports-Tracker in my Nokia phone and couldn’t live without it, but among all the people I know, I seem to be the only one. So you probably need an app-store with, say, a thousand good quality apps.
Grover
on 23 Jun 11I appreciate your perspective, but I can’t say I agree. francesco above me nails it when he says that each person’s need is different. I know that in order to get what I wanted out a smartphone, I needed a dedicated ToDo app that synced across multiple devices. I use Instapaper daily.
So that value is in being able to essentially take for granted that you’ll be able to get what you need. In preparing for a series of long road trips, my wife and I realized that we need to figure out which car gets better real-world gas mileage before deciding which one to take, and I can take it for granted that I can get a high quality app that will help me do that in the Apple app store. My boss on the other hand is constantly frustrated at the small number of quality apps available for his Palm Pre, to a degree where he carries around a iPod touch just for the apps.
Benjy
on 23 Jun 11This discussion kind of echos the thought process that led so many radio stations to move to a “shuffle” or “we play anything” format in the wake of the iPod’s popularity… it wasn’t that people wanted desperately to hear anything at all, it was that within the realms of what music they linked they wanted access to everything they owned. For some, that was hip hop alone. Others, country and metal; or classic rock, reggae and classical, etc. The iPod platform allowed them to do just that by creating a tool for storing and playing so much music so easily. The iOS devices are the same - it’s a platform that each can customize to suit their needs and it works just as well if you want to use it for stock/finance apps; or games; or social media, etc. Some have broad uses and others narrow - it works equally well for all.
El Aura
on 23 Jun 11This prompted me to count: 30 (third-party) apps is what I use regularly (out of 200 I own)
JF
on 24 Jun 11I just posted a counterpoint to David’s point.
jojomonkey
on 24 Jun 11i use like ~10 apps as well. all this app talk is bull. i have a life. if i need the app for a lot of use it stays otherwise it goes.
Anonymous Coward
on 24 Jun 11There’s an old saying (who knows, it may even pre-date the internet) and it goes, ‘in a gold rush, it’s better to be selling shovels than trying to find gold’. Well, that only holds true if (a) you can control the market price of shovels; and (b) nobody knows where the gold is.
Once the gold deposits are mapped, or if cheaper shovel-makers start eating into your margins, you better pivot quick and become the best gold miner in the business, or the best refinery, or the best goldsmith in town. If the gold market changes from being about discovering gold to locking up, distributing and selling it, the act of shovelling becomes a much smaller slice of a much bigger pie, and your shareholders will punish you for not adapting to the changing market.
The N9 will find customers and will be profitable, but will it be a big enough success to do what Nokia shareholders really want from the company? To take back #1 place? No. And the answer lies in the way Nokia just keeps selling shovels…
niall larkin
on 24 Jun 11I must be a lone long-tailer.
The mindmapping tool ithoughtsHD was the only reason i bought an iPad and remains the killer app for me.
Any other long-tailers out there?
James Whatley
on 25 Jun 11Good work sir.
RobM
on 28 Jun 11I think you’re missing a few fundamentals…
If you’re talking about “need” the way you seem to, in the sense that your day won’t be able to go on without something, then you don’t “need” any apps. You don’t even really “need” a mobile phone at all. It might be a pain to go without after being used to them for so long, true, but “your day would surely go on”.
So we’ve established, hopefully, that when you talk about “needing” a phone at all or certain apps on it you’re actually talking about “really really want, because it makes my day easier/more fun”. Nothing wrong with that, by the way, but it brings me to my next point: The apps you want are maybe not the apps I want and our combined list of apps are probably not the apps that the rest of the world wants.
This is why app stores need lots of apps. Not because people “need” more than 10, but because each person’s 10 “must have” apps are different.
Rob
on 28 Jun 11The iPhone clones that arrive in the smartphone market… It is purpose that created them, purpose that connects them, purpose that pulls them, that guides them, that drives them, it is purpose that defines, purpose that binds them. They here because of you, Mr. Jobs. We’re here to take from you what you tried to take from ussss… Profits!
KenC
on 28 Jun 11Yes, but which 10 apps?
Christopher Drum
on 28 Jun 11This discussion causes me to recall fondly (fondly?!) the dark days of yore when the software section for my Mac IIVX at any given retailer was one endcap of merch next to the thousands of Windows titles. I recall saying, “How many drawing programs do you really need, if you have two or three good ones?”
I am curious, however, how many apps the author sifted through before finally finding the core apps of his daily experience? How far into the product lifecycle were those core apps released? Upon how many app shoulders do those giants stand? How many ideas and plans were investigated, digested, and improved upon to reach the nirvana he’s found in his favorite apps?
The reason the apps matter is because the competition encourages developers to try harder to become the signal in the noise. As developers, we can learn much, much faster what UI/concepts work and which don’t without having to build every single possibility. The iterative evolution of the platform’s strengths occur much faster in a thriving ecosystem.
dpr
on 29 Jun 11Dylan, as apple is closed platform. i think you are stuck with apple.
This discussion is closed.