In an interesting post on ReadWriteWeb about the post-app economy, Dan Rowinski writes:

Content publishers, retail businesses and restaurants are slowly realizing that they do not need to have a presence in the App Store to build a successful mobile presence.

Most laypeople just want to click on a few buttons to play a game or access content.

No argument here. My question, though, is, “What about consumers”?

Circumventing apps stores works for jailbreakers and other technical folks. But most laypeople just want to click on a few buttons to play a game or access content. Anything beyond that tends to get dismissed as too complicated. The relative security of Apple’s hybrid open-closed model seems to work for most, even if purists scoff at the company’s restrictiveness. The Wild Wild West that is Android doesn’t seem to be the answer.

Simon Says

Are apps here to stay? I doubt it. Nothing in the Age of the Platform lasts forever. Whatever replaces app stores and apps, though, must be as user-friendly as possible. Few consumers possess the skill, patience, and desire to consistently tinker with settings. For this very reason (as well as security concerns), the Internet of Things is still a ways away.

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What say you?