A while back, I wrote an article detailing the various ways I use my iPad. The intent of the article was to illustrate that while a tablet is not currently a "necessary" device, the appeal is so strong that I, like other iPad owners, am using it more and more. This is evident in the sheer number of apps that I use on a daily or regular basis, as I listed all of them in the article. As I spend more and more time on a three-week trip, I find myself blown away how many apps I regularly use on my iPhone as well. While I've always maintained that the core elements of an operating system (browser, touch response, reliability, general appearance) help establish the quality of a smartphone OS, there's no doubt that we live an an app world that influences how we value certain platforms.
More and more, the iPhone's simplistic interface seems to be a well-placed bet on the eventual importance of mobile apps. The layouts of Android or Windows Phone 7 both seem confused in their approach, likely because they both hit the market after the iPhone had gained significant mindshare. In order to differentiate themselves, they added layers of abstraction and obstruction that don't make it any easier to get to your apps. Adding multiple drawers and places to put apps (Android), or forcing them into arbitrary hubs (WP7), makes it harder, nor easier, to get to your apps. Only WebOS has a comparable method, since they treat space in the OS differently and put all apps into an easily-accessible launcher. That's not without its problems, however, because if WebOS had a less-embarrassing catalog, their users might be finding the launcher an inadequate way to navigate their apps.
To those who question whether or not Apple had plans for the App Store all along, I would point to how perfectly the iPhone homescreen is for dropping apps onto it. While they might have said at the iPhone introduction that they were committed to web apps, they had a perfect solution ready for developers within 8 months of the iPhone launch. To go along with this "new" approach to native app development, the iPhone just happened to be the perfect console for launching these apps. It had to have been planned all along, and it was planned pretty well, at that.
This idea of the iPhone and iOS devices as "app consoles" isn't mine, of course. It's been written about extensively by John Gruber on DaringFireball, and by Watts Martin and Marco Arment. The point is underscored, however, in a mere list of frequently-used apps on my iPhone, just like the list months ago for my iPad:
Core Apps:
- Phone
- Safari
- iPod
- Camera + Pictures
- Clock
- Messaging
- Calendar
- Maps
- App Store + iTunes
- YouTube
- Stocks
- Notes
Social:
- Meebo
- Tumblr
- Skype
- What's App
Games:
- Angry Birds Seasons
- Tiny Wings
- Astronut
- Words with Friends
Media:
- TWiT
- Engadget
- Huffington Post
- Pandora
- Wunder Radio
- NPR
Books/Reading:
- Kindle
- iBooks
- Instapaper
- Audible
Productivity:
- Wordpress
- Dropbox
- OneNote
- Photoshop Express
- Genius Scan
Other:
- Google Voice
- The Weather Channel
- E*Trade
- Remote
- Light (flashlight app using the LED flash)
- Flixster
The scary thing is that I know there are people who have and use far more than these. The point is, this is not a computer. It's an app console. At the end of the day, you're just diving into and out of apps and your experience is largely defined by the quality and selection of those apps.