Pew Research Center: Nearly 60% of experts believe that web pages will dominate over apps in 2020

On March 24, 2012, in the heated discussion on the pros and cons of APP and HTML5, a Pew survey showed that most technology experts believed that web pages would dominate more than APPs in 2020.

According to the survey released today, 35% of respondents believe that APP plays an irreplaceable role in content presentation, but as many as 59% of respondents believe that web pages are the hope for the future, and the rest of the respondents have not made a choice.

Respondents who support APP generally base their reasons on the following: "In 2020, the vast majority of people prefer to use specific applications (APPs) to access the Internet for online office, games, communications and content creation. APPs are far superior to open web pages in terms of ease of use, security and quality assurance. Most industry innovations and promotion activities will be achieved through the development and updating of APPs, and the time spent using APPs will occupy most of the time for many technology product users. By then, people will generally believe that the World Wide Web is no longer as important and useful as before, and APPs are an indispensable part of people's daily lives."

Those who support the web generally responded like this: "By 2020, the World Wide Web will be more important to people than ever before. The open web will continue to thrive and develop into a vibrant platform on which most people can work, play, communicate and create content. Although the Internet can also be accessed through apps on iPads, Kindles, smartphones and Droid mobile devices, the technology blog GigaOM believes that this is actually an 'anti-Internet' approach because users can only access limited information and entertainment on the Internet through specific functions. By then, people will generally believe that web pages will be more important and useful than apps and become an indispensable element in people's lives."

The non-random online survey covered "1,021 technology leaders and critics from all walks of life" between late August and October 2011.

The debate about web pages mainly comes from HTML5. The way to develop apps and web pages may be integrated with each other because of this technology. In the future, people may not be able to tell the difference between web pages and apps.

If you are a web developer and believe that multiple mobile platforms will continue to develop, then the web will be an obvious better choice. In the future, few developers will be willing to support multiple platforms. In fact, if you choose Android or iOS as your development platform, your burden of service support may not be easy. As for Windows Phone and BlackBerry platforms, I advise you to give up, because the web is the paradise of most developers in the future.