Platforms

There’s a thread zooming around the digital space this week about the web being dead. Wired magazine issued this proclamation a couple of days ago and much has been written about it over the last 48 hours.  The gist of the argument is that digital life is becoming less browser-centric as we move to mobile web, apps, peer-to-peer, and other means of interacting digitally.  Of course, as they admit in the article, they issued the same proclamation in 1997!

So where do you come out on this?  While you’re ruminating, here’s what I think.

I think they’re dead wrong.  Oh sure, if we go out far enough they’re right – after all, who would have thought that photo film would almost have disappeared 20 years ago?  But there are legacy users of almost anything – my parents just got off WebTV 8 months ago, check the percentage of your site traffic still coming through discontinued, unsupported browsers – IE6, for example.  But it’s really the wrong discussion.

Platforms don’t matter.  Who cares if a fan watches a video via peer-to-peer, a download, a DVD, Netflix on an XBox (all non-web uses), or streamed through a browser.  The important thing is the engagement as they see fit.  The browser is yet another channel, a means to an end.

There is a whole line of thinking about making money and how it’s easier via apps, which are controlled environments.  To date, however, apps impose another layer of gate-keepers – Apple, RIM, whomever.  Historically, things trend away from that, so maybe the platform-specific app stores are also just another dying thing.

There are changes coming for the web browser as well.  HTML5 is upon us – who knows what that will do.  I’ve seen another version of HTML that overcomes other current shortcomings.  So I’m not placing my bets on the browser-based web going away in the near future.

We can’t get caught up in the tools – we need to stay focused on the user.  I’ll keep saying it – hopefully you’ll keep reading it and repeat after me.

So now that you’ve had time to think, what’s your take on this?  Fun discussion!