Web app

Six 'Web app' stories June 2011 - April 2016

Embedded Apple Map on WWDC site suggests official public MapKit web API coming soon

Benjamin Mayo Apr 19 2016 - 2:42 am PT

Apple seems to be preparing to announce a web version of its MapKit framework, allowing anyone to embed an Apple Map view into a web page. On the WWDC microsite, Apple has embedded its own map object in the page to show attendees how to get between Moscone West and the Bill Civic auditorium, where the Monday keynote will be held. Looking at the code, it appears Apple wants to make this embeddable map a public API in the (near?) future so anyone could add an Apple Map to their website.

The map allows user interaction like you might expect with panning, zooming and such. Behind the scenes, the Apple map uses a HTML5 <canvas> element to render the custom cartography. Right now, MapKit is exclusive to iOS and Mac apps, ostensibly funded by the revenue Apple brings in from the sale of App Store apps.

From a business perspective, it is unclear why Apple would want to open up its API to web developers. Today, most developers use embedded Google Maps to display maps on their websites due to its ubiquity. Although other mapping options exist, a high-profile entrance of Apple into the space would provide strong competition to Google’s offering.

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iCloud.com Photos app said to be coming next week alongside iOS 8.1

Mike Beasley Oct 17 2014 - 3:04 am PT

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Earlier this month Apple published some support documents that referred to an iCloud.com-based Photos web app for managing a photo library. It was discovered that when the URL for the app was entered into the beta version of the iCloud site, it produced an error message rather than simply redirecting to the home page like any other invalid link.

Today a 9to5Mac reader attempted to load the app and was presented with the page pictured above indicating that users running iOS 8.1 (which includes the beta version of the iCloud Photo Library feature) will be able to use the web app to view their photos. With iOS 8.1 scheduled for release on Monday, it’s not a stretch to think the online version of the app will be launching then as well.

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Google updates Gmail web app with new UI inspired by iOS apps, improved search & Calendar integration

Jordan Kahn Mar 11 2013 - 12:21 pm PT

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Google announced today that it updated the mobile web app for Gmail and the Gmail Offline Chrome app with a refreshed UI and new features similar to recent enhancements to its iOS apps. On top of the redesigned visuals, Google also included improvements to search and Google Calendar integration:

Today we’re rolling out a similar refreshed look to the Gmail mobile web app as well as Gmail Offline (http://goo.gl/0f1ae) that includes many of these same changes. Try it out at gmail.com in the browser of your Android, iOS, Blackberry or Kindle Fire device.

Google noted it decided to implement a design for its web apps similar to its iOS offerings after receiving positive feedback since first launching the new iOS design in December.
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Wither apps: Financial Times web app more popular than iOS app

Jake Smith Sep 22 2011 - 2:15 pm PT

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Reuters is reporting that the Financial Time’s web app is more popular than their recently Apple-removed iOS app. You’ll recall that the Financial Times’ iOS app was removed by Apple, due to the publication trying to dodge Apple’s 30% cut regulation. Luckily for Financial Times, they’re not seeing any issues in traffic, getting more than 700,000 users on their newly launched web app. Financial Times is simply drawing in users by displaying a message at the top of their site, linking to their HTML 5 app.

So this draws the question — do publishers really need to have an iOS app on the Store? Maybe not.

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Apple removes Financial Times app for dodging in-app subscription guidelines

Jordan Kahn Aug 30 2011 - 9:48 pm PT

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The Financial Times has officially been removed from the App Store after failing to comply with Apple’s in-app subscription model that requires payments to be processed through iTunes (giving Apple a 30% cut in the process).

The publication used to have an iPhone and iPad app, which appear to have been removed from the App Store today. Fortunately for FT (not so much for Apple), they also have an HTML5 web app alternative that they’re urging iOS users to use instead.

The Financial Times told Paid Content:
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iCloud resurrects expired MobileMe accounts, only works in native apps (for now)

Mark Gurman Jun 16 2011 - 11:00 am PT

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As a part of Apple’s MobileMe-to-iCloud transition, Apple will be bringing expired MobileMe accounts back to life. We have gotten our hands on login information for a long-expired MobileMe account and have discovered that Apple has already migrated these accounts over to the free iCloud service (shown above). In order to setup these newly resurrected accounts you need to be running Apple’s upcoming iOS 5 and OS X Lion (with iCloud beta installed). Your old MobileMe username and password will now function as your iCloud Apple ID.

The reason being is that these new iCloud e-mail, calendar, and other accounts no longer work at me.com. That’s right, for the time being, users who have their old MobileMe accounts migrated over to the iCloud service can no longer access their email on the web. We got our expired test MobileMe account up and running as an iCloud account on a Mac running OS X Lion (with iCloud installed) and an iPhone running iOS 5. Mail, contacts, calendar, and the rest of the suite work perfectly with native apps, but not in Apple’s me.com web apps. Find my iPhone is the exception.

There has been a lot of talk lately over whether or not iCloud will support the MobileMe web apps, usher in their own redesigned web apps, or leave the web in the dark. Our discovery points to no web app compatibility, but that is likely because the iCloud web apps do not exist yet. The Loop and others say that iCloud web apps are, in fact, in development. We’ll likely see those when iCloud is ready to launch this fall. Thanks, Kristian!

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