I think there are more profound objections to apps for publishers. The first is, why do you want to build an app? Apps are there to perform software applications. There are tons of things where apps are the appropriate and, in many cases, the only possible strategy. If you want to hook up with someone, if you want to check your stocks or make financial transactions, apps are great. But almost everything I might conceivably want to do as a publisher can be done more elegantly and more cheaply in a browser. They can be done with a scripting and markup language. What made apps attractive initially — great type or multimedia — publishers can do in HTML. I see no overriding benefit to apps. Sure publishers can build apps, but why bother? It’s just a waste of resources and effort.
The second problem is more philosophical. When you build an app, you build a walled garden with few or no links, and digital media wants to link out to other digital media.
