Lots of great conversation was going on today based on the simple question, “Are apps the new Flash?”. The idea was originally brought up in October in Jeffrey Zeldman’s article “IPad as the new Flash” which focuses more with e-magazine publishing, but the concept was re-sparked, in my mind at least, by today’s Big Web Show.

There seems to be a bit confusion what this question infers. While most of the comments featured a monetizing aspect, an interactivity aspect, or a functionality aspect, none of them featured usage. 

In the past Flash had a purpose. It was a way to get wider typeface choice, interactivity, and video into websites, among other things. Designers and developers were using it as a solution to a problem, and flocked to it in droves because it was new, exciting, and clients wanted it. 

Demand met supply so fast we all jumped in and started swimming. It wasn’t until technology and our tools evolved that we started to think about what we were doing. We started to look into why we created solutions this way and suddenly had options to create with. Typography choices could be stacked and rendered with preference in the users browser, mouse over actions could be made with three lines of CSS code, and now with HTML5, and a speedy connection rate, video can be served up in a way that can reach devices with internet access on the go.

Flash is no longer the only solution. But for a while, let’s not forget, that it was THE solution. 

Now, we have apps. Apps for just about everything, and development is huge right now. It’s new, exciting, and clients want an app of their own. Demand is meeting supply so fast that developer’s are jumping in and have started swimming… Is this sounding familiar? 

People are so swept up in the new hotness of native apps they’ve forgotten, or just over looked how this trend got introduced. And that was through web apps. 

I’m not saying one is better then the other. Both offer different solutions. However, now that there are options the issue is that people seem to have blinders on and are running towards the native app solution instinctively, without consideration of those options. 

That’s what is meant by “Are Apps the new Flash?”. Are apps this solution that people are flocking to simply because it’s a new, exciting option? Or are they actually taking a moment, looking at the choices, and decided that yes, a native app is the answer for their specific problem.

I see a lot of internet services that have a native app on every mobile device made, and I have to wonder, why? I’m not talking about a game that needs the devices’ hardware to function. I mean services like Twitter, Gowalla, or Facebook for that matter. Services that already live on the web. Do these companies really need a version of their website on every internet accessible device natively?  Or is there something that can be done to add those native benefits to a web based solution? This just seems like a novelty and they are creating solutions without a real problem.  

Comments or questions? Feel free to leave them below.