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Comment by calsy | Hacker News Reader

Are browsers the same as app stores? Are browsers designed to search for vetted web apps and provide an environment for them to run without the browser bulk? Are browsers designed for ease of purchase? Are alternative browsers supposed to be competition for app stores?

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From the person I originally replied to:

> WebKit lock in is a way to prevent web apps from disrupting appstore cash cow

I’m not aware of any proof this is the case. Regardless of platform, what business is going to invest the time and money required to make a competing platform for app delivery on mobile that rivals the current stores? Both Google and Apple can shutdown you down in an instant if they were to consider you a competitive threat. Why bother?

So businesses won’t invest time and money to create a browser. But companies will invest literally billions of dollars collectively to develop other software?

The Mozilla cooperation mostly survives because of Google funding it to be the default search engine. Even Microsoft decided it didn’t make sense to keep developing its own browser engine. How is a company going to make money creating browser? No company has successful made a profit from people paying for a browser - ever.

Yes, I was around and into computers when the first browsers came out. I was actually writing extensions to a custom Mac Gopher server before the web became popular.

Ok so now we are going into the history of browsers, who said anything about paying for browsers. Your argument was 'why are web apps not popular on Android then', and I explained why.

How is Apple or Google going to “shut down” a web app?

By making it so cumbersome to use that people won’t bother with it.

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