Web Browsers: The New App Platform
Web 2.0 brought with it a new level of functionality that wasn't seen or possible in the Web 1.0 world. The move toward cloud-based computing has only expedited the ubiquity of this added functionality as computational power and user data can be accessed from anywhere. It only makes sense, then, that browsers are quietly becoming the new app platform.
Google has dabbled with Web-based apps for some time with Google Docs, Google Calendar, and more. The next logical progression came, and without much fanfare, when Google's Chrome browser opened up its own Chrome Web Store.
Like the applications on smartphones and tablets used by millions of business professionals, apps used with the browser as a backbone allow the business user to perform any number of vital tasks on a daily basis. These apps give you the ability to access important information, open any type of document or file wherever you may be, access data that would traditionally have been stored on desktops at the office, manage finances, or organize your day.
It's not just Google that has noticed this shift either. Firefox’s "add-ons" allow the browser to do infinitely more than simply distribute text and video media. These add-ons and extensions are one reason Firefox has continued to gain market share in the browser marketplace. Here's a closer look at how browsers are quietly becoming a new platform businesses should care about.
How Browser Applications Can Help the Business Professional
Although applications are still relatively new for browsers, they’re becoming nearly as common as bookmark bars. One reason they're gaining favor is that browser-based apps provide an avenue for looking at your favorite sites in a whole new way. Take the New York Times’ free app for example. Once installed from Chrome's Web Store, a user's experience with the "everything that’s fit to print" paper is no longer held captive by the common rules of HTML. The content is broken down into a simple layout, comparable to what you'd find on a tablet app, that provides quick access to the paper's most important sections. This allows readers to flip through stories and sections in a way that’s similar to holding a real paper, rather than wasting time clicking and scrolling through bottomless pages. This is a perfect example of what browser-based apps can encompass: simple layouts, quick and easy navigation, robust function and information -- all fast, efficient, and, most important, usable.
Browser-based apps are perfect for companies or business professionals that need to combine multiple tasks or applications into one streamlined effort. Yoono is a free browser-based Web app (available in Chrome's Web Store) that allows users to collect notifications from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social networking sites in one unified place. An app like this allows for quick and easy viewing while offering a number of features such as changing which networks you want to view, updating your status on all networks at once, and allowing you to easily share links, images, and videos.
The Future of Business and Browser-Based Apps
The growth of browser-based apps will most certainly ride on the popularity and interests that have taken hold of so-called traditional apps that business professionals have come to embrace. As more browser-based apps appear in the marketplace (some free and some with a price tag), companies will be able to expand and simplify workflow and data exchange with in-house and outside workers.
Because these apps are based in the cloud and run on or through browsers, a worker's toolbox will go with them no matter where they are. No longer will a new computer require hours of software installation and data porting, because it will already be there, waiting in the cloud.
For developers, browser-based applications will open more doors for development and sales through stores like Chrome's Web Store. Useful apps that target the specific areas most used by business professionals are once again open for competition, much like mobile- and tablet-based apps. Businesses that create and implement browser-based apps now will have an early start on tomorrow.
