Irony of Ironies
I miss computer programs. The App has replaced traditional software to the point that I now want apps available only on my phone also to be usable on my PC.
Ironic, isn't it?
Let's look at some examples.
WordPress for instance. This site is powered by WordPress. A site that I manage at work is now also powered by WordPress. Thanks to the fine talent at Automattic I can put an App on my Android powered smart phone and interact with each of these WordPress powered sites easily and seamlessly. But if I want to do the same thing while sitting at my Dell Inspiron 700m I have to log in to each site individually and navigate through the full on menu structure. For heavy site maintenance this is fine but for the occasional comment approval or post update the Android App is much more efficient.
Or how about Apps like Flipboard or Zite? I really like the niche of these two products. If you are at all familiar with this site (i.e. the one you are reading right now) you'll understand that I would like nothing more than to sit around all day and consume raw information. Without an ipad I am forced to do without the two previously mentioned Apps as they aren't available for Android. Not that I would want to actually use them on my phone but you get the picture.
For some applications, the target website may be sufficient, at least at face value, but I would disagree. With a dedicated App the designers must emphasize the usability and feature set. All of the things a user wants to do must necessarily be easy to get to else the proverbial peloton in this case will give poor reviews and move on to the next easier App to use. It is that direct functionality that I miss when having to use a website rather than a dedicated Application.
Certain Apps get it right and offer both.
Evernote does it right. I can install the program on my laptop and also on my phone giving me direct access either way. They also maintain a web version as well for those needing to access the service without smart phone or personal PC (for future reference I will use the term PC to refer to any full on computer whether it be desktop or laptop, windows, mac or linux). Well played Evernote.
Others similarly come close to hitting the mark. I like Seesmic for my twitter consumption (and some production as well). I love the phone App but am not so crazy about the PC version.
In a perfect world...
I would love to have PC versions of the Smart phone Apps such that if you divided my laptop screen into portions roughly the size of my DroidX I could have 5 to 6 Apps going at once. I could bounce between them at ease and get quite a bit done without having to swype my way through things. (If you have seen an Inspiron 700m you'll know that it isn't large and could easily be mistaken for a netbook except that it first came out in 2004 and predates the netbook devolution. (That's right, I'm not too fond of the netbook, not from a purpose standpoint but rather from a hardware standpoint. I see them as cheap laptop imitations that are being marketed to a Walmart generation. Yes, I like quality. I am my father's son and there's not much to do about that now. And what is wrong with good quality anyway???) Anyway, it has a 12.1 inch screen so isn't large by laptop standards. Just the same I could be really productive leveraging the compact App architecture that has come about with the Smart phone revolution. Imagine each App interface as a portal to the cloud.
Maybe it's the way of the future...way of the future...way of the future.