Homenaje al ingeniero Félix Colinas Villoslada - Facultad de ...

Are mobile apps killing the web?
Emmanuel Echeverría*
A day in life
Our entire life has gone mobile. Think
about it: you wake up because your
smartphone is your bedside alarm
clock and what happens next? You check your
emails and the recent updates on your social
networks such as Twitter and Facebook. You
have breakfast and, at the same time, you get
the weather forecast to decide what should
you wear or carry for the day. On your way
to the office you read the newspaper on your
tablet or scroll through the latest RSS feeds.
During the day, you can basically do all your
work from your mobile devices; moreover,
if you are the adventurous kind, you even
compose, edit and check documents from there.
You go back home and take a rest while
reading an online book you just downloaded
from Amazon and finally go to bed, not before
you watched a movie or listened to a podcast
on iTunes.
What happened? You were connected all day
to the Internet but not to the web.
* Egresado de Ingeniería en Telecomunicaciones
Internet and the Web
Although used interchangeably, Internet and
the Web are not the same thing, and it is worth
recalling the difference between them. As
defined by Wikipedia, Internet is a global system
of interconnected computer networks, a
network of networks, all linked by a broad
array of electronic, wireless and optical networking
technologies. On the other hand, the
World Wide Web is a system of interlinked
hypertext documents (websites) accessed via
the Internet.
In short, the Internet comprises all the technology,
protocols and infrastructure needed
to get everything connected, and the Web is
the service that relies on this technology to
give everybody what they want.
A world full of apps
We are surrounded by thousands of different
mobile devices. A variety of vendors and
models are at our disposal for us to choose a
fancy, nice-looking one that suits our day-today
life necessities. The world of applications,
however, is even bigger. There is an app for
practically anything: starting with the essential
ones such as social networks, newspapers
or email apps; passing through the productivity
ones like to-do’s, personal finances managers,
document editors, mobile CRMs; and
all the way to healthcare and wellness ones,
without forgetting to make a stop and have
some fun with any of the awesome games
available. You can even find an app to deal
with night-annoying mosquitoes!!!
Mobile apps vs. the Web
What is the true success about apps? Their
simplicity. They take us wherever we want
with just one touch. No more typing, no more
clicking, no more navigating through links,
no more browsing, just choose your app and
you will get your content right away. While
web pages will not stop beating to death
(we still use postcards and telegrams right?),
the center of gravity of all media is moving
towards the edge of the network, and it now
lives in your very own hand!
Gaceta Digital FI • No. 14 • Octubre, 2011
Contenido 19