Every now and then, something comes along that makes you go..hmmm. I wonder if this is the future. Occasionally, you find yourself to be right. This, I think is one such time where I suspect I’ll be right .
So recently Google Announced something called Instant Apps, allegedly developers who build apps in the modular fashion google tells them to, should be able to have their apps invoked within other Apps. The plebeian Google fanboys (not the smart ones) will yell: “Google Innovates again..Apple will copy this soon, bla bla bla”.
But you, are no such plebeian Google Fanboy. You know because you have been following the internet and tech for a while, and you know that lunching Apps within App in a mobile is nothing new. In fact, you probably already know that Apple has had that feature albeit differently for a while now (You have to have the app in iOS whereas in Google the App does not need to be installed) . Years in fact, the Apple similar yet older feature is called App extensibility. One would even argue that Android had that ability even way before Apple did.
Before you start thinking this is another iOS vs Android blog post, I need you to relax. And think in OS and App terms only a bit.
What if… just what if, at some point in the future you had the ability to buy the App and Rent the App at the same time?
Picture this: Jenny just shot a load of photos of her kid’s birthday with her smartphone. The photos looked Good but Anna told her about this cool App called Party Photos which has some super cool filters specially designed for the type of lighting suitable for a birthday candle blowing scene.
Jenny then checks the Application store (App Store/Play Store) and then tells Anna: but this is 4.99 $ Anna, I’m only gonna do this thing just once.
Anna, being the Techno geek that she is, quickly retorts.. “Yes, But you don’t have to buy it, just rent it for a day or two.. do your stuff and then the App will go away”
Jenny quickly rents the App, edits the photos on her phone and then forgest about the App that she rented. The App sends a notification to Jenny a few days later saying that the rent period is over and functionality will be disabled. Jenny thinks about it for a minute, then decides to delete the App.
Until the next time she needs a quick edit, she remembers she can rent the App Party photos again and does what she needs to do, then decides, you know what.. I’m gonna buy this App. The developer of the App has kindly allowed a discounted inApp purchase for those who previously rented the App. Both of them are happy that a suitable financial transaction existed that served the needs of both developer and user at different times.
Will this be the future of Apps the same way it is the present reality of movies?
Maybe so, I think more and more developers would want to get a financial return on their creation either on a per use basis or a per ownerhsip basis. Only time will tell, But I’m keeping this post up just in case I have to add to the list of things I was wrong about.
