Re: App stores as unique entry points

On Mar 7, 2013 2:58 AM, "Dominique Hazael-Massieux" <dom@w3.org> wrote:
>
> I think it is likely impossible (and also not something to wish for) to
> have an imposed unique point of entry for Web apps, given the highly
> decentralized nature of the Web.
>
> That being said, browsers are today single point of entry to the Web,
> and indeed, are already being used as a portal to find and "install" Web
> applications (Opera widgets, Chrome Store, Firefox add-ons and
> marketplace to name the ones I'm familiar with).
>
> There is currently a lot of fragmentation in this space, at different
> levels; hopefully SysApps and Webapp will address the fragmentation
> linked to packaging and security model. But I doubt this would be
> sufficient for making it easy for developers to have their Web apps
> appear in these various stores.

The runtime and security model spec that mozilla is pushing should make it
possible for developers to submit the same app to multiple stores.

But it does rely on developers to manually contact every store that they
want to appear in.

To remove that obstacle we need to make apps more searchable.

> I would very much welcome feedback on
> what other missing features in this space ought to be addressed sooner
> rather than later, or contact information with people that could help me
> understand this space better.
>
> Also, I'm interested to hear ideas on how to enable a broader ecosystem
> in this space, where many Web apps stores could emerge, with either
> competitive or complementary scopes; I know that this is again a space
> where Mozilla has been working on, but would certainly love to
> understand more about the concrete ideas on the table.

We believe that the set of specs that we are pushing is laying a lot of the
technical foundation for this to happen. But of course there are other
pieces missing. Enabling business models through payments and other means
is certainly an important aspect here. Possibly search as well.

/ Jonas