I often advocate moving away from browser-based experiences. I recently had a debate with a colleague with regards to mobile applications on the i-Phone. He thought that most were still running through Safari and that they were indeed browser-based. Of course, this is not the case as developers have abandoned safari /JavaScript applications ever since version 2 of the i-phone OS was released. The problem was typical. Not enough horsepower in using a Javascript engine running mobile Safari. Hence why all these great, new powerful apps are developed native to the OS, avoiding the need for cheesy third-party apps run through Safari. Take any good app on the i-Phone and you’ll see how seamlessly the data layer gets brought in without the nuisance of shoe-horning it into a browser app.

All this to say that we are seeing the end of an era with the end of 2009 and a new wave in hybrid devices that will eventually replace Laptops and perhaps some mobile devices. In 2009 we got a glimpse of the future with Apple’s multitouch tablet and Sony’s Vaio L touch screen PC. I predict that in 2010, we will start turning towards native apps on these kinds of devices and get further away from browsers.

As we continue to incorporate the apps we care about such as Facebook into these native systems, the need to use a browser to do much of anything decreases. We, as users, have already been trained by Apple that there’s an app for everything – so this transition will be fairly painless.  Browsers will still exist but will become secondary to more powerful native apps that pull in the same data through search and sort experiences, albeit in a more robust and integrated fashion.  The best part is that consumers can get access to the same data on a device of their choice.  I’m already starting to architect systems for this brave new world.

Check out the Sports Illustrated digital edition on the Tablet:

Check out the Sony Vaio L Touchscreen:

Happy New Year Everyone!