For any business wondering whether to invest in apps or in the web, the answer is: both. The web has evolved from a static content-consumption platform. Today’s web offers businesses virality and instant access to their products, but there’s so much more to unlock. With the right investments, websites can drive growth, engagement, and revenue. Today’s customer experience isn’t bound to any one channel, it spans both apps and the web. And customers want a consistent experience that supports omnichannel ways of interacting. The latest data shows how critical it is for business leaders to prioritize both the app and the website in the holistic customer journey.
The web can
Be more than just a landing page
TL;DR
With the unique value of instant reach and collaboration, and powered by an influx of innovative modern features, the web can play a complementary role to native apps in driving user value and ultimately uplifting your business.
The opportunity
A complementary platform for growth
Moving to a world of ‘web AND native’
Much more than a landing page, it’s now possible to push the boundaries of what’s possible in the browser with modern web technologies.
Surge of powerful web features in the last few years
While historically, content creation is where the web shined, the platform is also fueling tremendous experimentation and viral growth for other use cases – from graphic design, to musical composition, video editing and of course GenAI tools! As the browser gets increasingly more powerful, the conversation many business leaders are having is on how to harness the power and virality of the web alongside native apps.
“The web is an incredibly effective conversion funnel for us. Through the browser, users can easily create in Adobe Express, seamlessly collaborate with other users and deliver content with great velocity and at scale.”
— Aubrey Cattell, VP - Developer Platform & Partner Ecosystem, Adobe
Make the web your platform for growth
By making investments in WebAssembly (Wasm), companies like Adobe and Snap have quickly ported their native libraries to the browser. With Passkeys landing across all platforms and browsers, businesses like Kayak and Shopify are providing a secure and seamless authentication solution to give their users a more personalized experience.
“With the right investments, websites can function like apps—as products that drive growth, engagement, and revenue.”
— Amplitude Labs 2022 Apps vs Website Trend Report
Modern web capabilities have equipped the browser to deliver features that enable developers to build anything they want, and with the pace at which features are landing across all major browsers, the web is ready to be your platform for growth.
A steady increase in the intersection of features (ie, tests passing) across browsers in 2023. Source
The web has many super powers, some known, some not so well known. So we’ve curated a few to help you start building successful apps using modern web technologies. And we’ll keep adding more as the platform gets even more powerful.
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