Google: Mobile app stores have no future

Vic Gundotra, Google's engineering vice president and developer evangelist, on Friday told the Mobilebeat conference in San Francisco that the future of the mobile industry does not lie with the native applications designed for specific smartphone platforms. Instead, he told the Financial Times that, "We believe the web has won and over the next several years, the browser, for economic reasons almost, will become the platform that matters and certainly that's where Google is investing."

Gundotra lamented that even Google was "not rich enough" to support all the different mobile platforms, noting that "Many, many applications can be delivered through the browser and what that does for our costs is stunning."

On the other hand, technology strategist Michael Gartenberg felt differently. Gartenberg noted that Apple's App Store "is a testament for strong consumer and developer interest in native applications." He pointed out that many iPhone applications are native and web-based at the same time, alluding Google's comparison of "one versus the other" as "last century thinking."

While one might be tempted to think of the entire issue as only related to the "mobile" arena, the truth is that enterprises will increasingly find themselves connecting mobile devices to the corporate network. This can be used indirectly to boost the productivity of smartphone toting staffers, or directly, in which smartphones are connected to enterprise resources such as database and portals.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at Financial Times blog
- check out this article at Wired.com

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