Hyper Focused to a Fault
Mobile applications of today all have one characteristic in common. By design, they are narrowly focused, isolated, and self contained. Focus is important for expertise and simplification of user experience; isolated, self-contained apps are important for privacy and security concerns. But this model has serious limitations. What if your nutrition app could record the fact that you just completed a run and burned 500 calories? What if after making a purchase through a shopping app, your favorite personal finance app could learn that you just spent $50 on shoes and $200 on clothing? No one application will ever be able to solve all these problems well. Can we, however, solve the privacy and security concerns which prevent this kind of inter-app communication? The stand-out apps of the future must, if they are to support advanced open data and API standards that will allow their power and reach to spread far beyond any one focus.
