The Wiki Man

21 November 2009

A fortnightly column on technology and the web

As Mark Earls remarks, ‘Thinking is to humans what swimming is to cats — something we can do if absolutely necessary, but we’d really rather not.’ This is what makes the iPhone (and the hard-on-its-heels breed of Android phones now entering the market) so significant. The ‘app’ — a single-function piece of software which sits on a mobile phone — brings with it a level of intuitive functionality which is better than that of a traditional web browser, even though the screen is a fraction of the size. So significant is this development that many commentators believe the internet has reached the point of ‘peak browser’ where the web-browser becomes less central to our use of the internet. It’s one reason Apple’s widely anticipated pad device has aroused so much pre-launch excitement — for the assumption is that Apple will extend its ecosystem of apps on to a new generation of portable computers resembling large, powerful iPhones with keyboards.

Having just used Ocado’s iPhone application to order a week’s groceries, I think this idea has merit. Already there are many routine tasks (Twitter, Facebook, train timetables, online shopping, finding restaurants) which, thanks to apps, are almost easier to perform on a phone than on a conventional computer. They don’t yet solve the problem of paying for station lavatories — although a GPS-enabled app called ‘Toilet-Finder UK’ may at least help you find them.