What Web Development's History Can Tell Us About the Future of Mobile Apps

It would be nice to say that web development has gotten easier over the years but that’s just not true. Technology keeps moving forward and web app developers continue to face more challenges than ever. Case in point - the new reality of responsive web design as a requirement, not an option, and the always changing web browser code interpretation argument (hence the latest round of Android Chrome browser changes to the way web views show content).

Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned for mobile app developers here – hard fought lessons learned from web developers in what has now been decades of changes from a technology standpoint, and maybe more importantly, the social and economic ramifications driving the use of the web.

In a recent white paper, “Will Mobile Application Development Follow the Path of Web Development?” Nexaweb looks at the similarities between the evolution of web development and how this knowledge can be leveraged when shaping a mobile strategy.

Such as the lessons learned from the browser wars. Web developers who were honing their craft in the late 90’s painfully remember when Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer delivered the first blows in the browser wars, with other companies quickly jumping in the fray creating a standardization nightmare. This was perhaps the first time the general public had experienced a choice when using an application – a choice driven by the most used activity on their computer – online search. Almost overnight, consumer choice was a driver for application development.

Sounds familiar when considering today’s mobile app environment, right? As Nexaweb notes in the earlier mentioned white paper, “Putting aside for the moment all the old web apps out there, when was the last time you saw a newly developed web app that didn’t support Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome – usually even Safari is included. Why? What changed? More importantly, are there lessons we can learn from the evolution of web development that can inform the challenges many companies are facing in the development of mobile applications?”

What changed indeed? The current situation with mobile applications is in many ways far more complex than the browser wars ever was. What is really happening today that is going to change tomorrow’s mobile dynamic? How does what we learned for web development over the years apply now? You can learn all of this insight and more by reading Nexaweb’s analysis below.