While I am completely caught up in the craze over the new iPhone, I have to admit, I’m a bit surprised by the mass hysteria over the app store. I’m not saying it’s no big deal. Apps like “Twitterific” and “Loopt” have absolutely blown my mind. However, apps on the iPhone are really nothing new. The difference now, of course, is that you have to pay for some.

Almost since the launch of iPhone, web developers have been creating custom user experiences for iPhone users. So much so, that Apple actually created a directory where it catalogs and displays these “web apps” for your convenience. Plus, with the quick creation of a web clip, you can even save these apps to your iPhone home screen, just like a real application.

With categories like, games, news, social networking, productivity, and more, you can see some striking similarities between these WEB apps and some of the apps in iPhone’s new app store. Could people be paying for some stuff that’s already available on the iPhone for free? It wouldn’t be the first time.

Web apps have some obvious limitations. They are designed to run in the iPhone’s web browser only, so they can’t take advantage of the accelerometer, the cocoa touch platform, the graphics engine, etc. There are some limitations. However, don’t thumb your nose up to these things just yet. You might find something you can’t live without was right in front of you all along.

http://www.apple.com/webapps/

Last Monday afternoon, amidst the dogs barking and the children peering out our windows, I sprinted for the door. Flinging it open I found the UPS man placing a carefully wrapped package at
my door. With excitement I snatched it up, hurtled the still
barking dogs on my way back into the living room and set
up a spot for myself on the floor. Tearing open the
box, with no respect whatsoever for the
aforementioned packaging, I removed the bubble
wrap, receipts, and other packaging materials and
something soon became visible. The label
read "Wii Fitness".

After hours of BMI tests, yoga poses, and balance

games, the family was exhausted. I was packing up the game when I realized something rather profound. Were we playing a video game? Things really have changed.

I have quite fond memories of my childhood dinners huddled around the TV. “Married With Children” playing as Pop discussed his day at work and Mom complained about her commute. After dinner, my father might challenge me to a game of Nintendo Golf or Tetris if a major sporting event wasn’t on. We watched a lot of TV. We were a family of couch potatoes. That’s not to say we didn’t do anything active. We did, but we also gathered around the television just about every night.

That Monday evening I had a vision of my children’s memories being totally different from mine. I’m sure some families still gather around the TV every night watching “American Idol” or “Dancing with the Stars”, but mine does not. The advancement of technology, and my immersion in it, has totally transformed the way my family receives media. I can’t remember the last time we watched something “live” on television. We have Tivos, iPods, and Macs hooked to every possible outlet in the house. Even our television has a Mac Mini hooked up to it with my entire media library (courtesy of XBMC) and most of the web’s (hulu.com and Netflix ) on demand libraries available at the click of a mouse. And with The Wii, and games like “Rock Band” and “DDR”, even our video game experiences, the ultimate couch potato time-waster, have evolved into an interactive form of exer-gaming.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great that my children won’t be as compelled to waste their time sitting in front of a box waiting for the next great catch phrase. I love the fact that their video games have added a physical element to keep them active even when their not. I just find it odd that the very technology that created the stereotypical “fat and lazy” American is changing in such a way that those Americans who embraced the laziness and became “couch potatoes” are becoming out-dated.

So Mr. “laying on the couch all day with a bag of chips and a can of beer guy”, I tip my hat to you. Keep on keepin’ on as long as you can. Because the days of people huddling around the TV for extended periods of time, watching mindless live TV maybe soon approaching the way of the Dodo.