Blog
Ibuildings Blog
 |
Ibuildings |
Friday, 2 April 2010What does the iPad mean for PHP companies?
Tomorrow is the big day that everybody and their mother have been talking about for the past few weeks. The iPad will finally be available, albeit only in a very select part of the world. Some have shunned the iPad as 'just a web browsing device' or 'a large iPhone, why bother?' and others have hailed it as the end of the laptop.
I see the iPad (and the non-Apple alternatives that already exist or are on the way) as a game changer. It brings new ways of consuming content and will reach audiences that the laptop has never reached. Similar to how the iPhone had a whole new audience that had no prior smart phone experience, the iPad will attract a new generation of web consumers. Whether it's simply reading email on the couch, or using recipes in the kitchen or new ways of reading magazines (Dutch page, but watch the English embedded video, it's awesome); we are moving into a new phase of web consumption. The iPad will not replace the laptop, or at least not entirely. Surely my dad who uses a laptop mostly to read his email and watch pictures of his grandson will switch to an iPad eventually, but laptops are frequently used for production (word processing, programming, authoring) as opposed to pure consumption. That's an area that, though possible on an iPad, will not be its core usage pattern.
In any case, the iPad is a game changer. What does this mean for the web and for tech companies such as us? First, it's nice to see that Apple is pushing open standards heavily with the iPad. Though the conspiracy theory is that Apple's push of HTML5 video is mostly to push Flash out of the market, the adherence to standards is a Good Thing. Second, the typical architecture behind most iPad apps (and other mobile applications for that matter) is to have a thin client on the device, and a rich API as the backend. The client can either be a browser but increasingly, these are native apps taking advantage of the possibilities of the device. The following picture depicts the typical architecture:  The important thing here is the API. Many companies create the mobile apps without giving much thought to the underlying rich API that provides functionality and data to the application. This is about as bad as creating a traditional website in HTML and not worry about any of the underlying PHP code. The API is what drives your applications, and ideally your websites, and without the API, the applications do not have anything to show. At Ibuildings, we have a lot of experience with designing APIs. With concepts such as Data Driven API Design vs Scenario Driven API design, but also with concepts of scalability to make sure that at the moment your mobile application becomes a success, it is not grinded to a halt because the underying API cannot cope with the traffic. I'd say for us, and probably for other PHP development companies, APIs are increasingly becoming a focus area. When you want to venture into the world of mobile iPhone, iPad, Windows Mobile and Android applications, do not just look at the shiny parts. Select a party that can not only build the shiny user-friendly frontend, but also the heart of the system, the API that powers the application. (Since the same APIs can also be used by your traditional websites to do optimal reuse of functionality, a suggestion for further reading is our Service API whitepaper) My most important advice in this post is: do not believe the people saying that the iPad is just a hype that will pass. It's a game changer in the field of information consumption, and sooner or later, companies will have to take this consumption change into account in their digital strategy. For the technical readers: until the end of april we are running our iPad contest. Solve an interesting programming problem and have a chance to win an iPad. And for those that couldn't care less about the iPad: Happy Easter!  Share         Reacties
Geeft reacties weer als
(Lineair | Samengevoegd)
I am not 100% sure of the iPad (observing it very curiously).
But the underlying API for code-reuse in the different apps is a very relevant architecture decision. We have recently built an architecture for Deutsche Telekom with such an API in the back. The only difference for us is that the different devices (IPTV boxes, iPhone, Andriod Apps, iPhone) do not access the low-level API directly. There is a small proxy between the devices and the API that handles security and authentication/authorization and makes the API more independent from protocol performance differences (via UMTS or even GPRS you might have more restrictions to the interface than inside the LAN, where the web-app accesses the API). cheers and happy easter, Gaylord
Shouldn't you wait at least for it to be widely used to learn what will be the real pattern of usage?
The problem is that the iPad is an heavy device for being considered hand-held. It has 700 grams, twice as much as a thick book (400 pages) and more than twice a Kindle. I am afraid most people will not be able to use it right as they hoped because it its too heavy to hold with two hands, let alone holding it with one hand so the other hand can interact with it. Basically you will need a support to not get tired of holding it. So, I am afraid people will end not using it for reading books (it emits light and tires your eyes), will not use it for watching video because it is too heavy to hold in your hands, they will not use it as a mobile phone because they cannot fit it in the pocket, will not use it for action games because it has no robust controls, etc... Maybe some people will use it to access the Web, but they have to hold it in their lap or put it in a table or some kind of support. But for that a regular laptop would be more adequate, as the base with keyboard can work as support to hold the screen vertically without tiring the user. Maybe I am wrong and it still can be useful for something practical. Anyway, I suspect most people got overexcited without having tried this device in practice and see if it is usable regardless of the hype.
In welke tijdsplanning zie je de 'iPad-isering' sterk toenemen ten opzichte van de standaard browser? En welke rol zie je hier HTML 5 en CSS 3 in?
Can you tell me how user friendly Achievo currently is running on the iPhone browser?
|
