In an earlier post this week I made the argument that contrary to some of the arguments currently being voiced about the death of the Web, this simply isn’t true. The browser-based Internet is simply too ingrained in the collective consciousness of user experience and too useful that it won’t be replaced by Apps and other Web service oriented offerings. This week a major research study was published which essentially suggests the same thing.
A new study from E-Marketer suggests that mobile users actually prefer using browsers over apps. All the more relevant is that mobile users are the audience that apps are directly aimed at, so if they still prefer the browser it just goes to show how the browser-based Web is far from death’s door.
Outside of games, music and social media users reported they prefer to consume all other content through a regular Web browser on their device. This was also true for e-commerce activity, with browsers winning the day over dedicated shopping apps.
While Apps have clearly made a huge splash since their launch and have certainly changed the digital consumption patterns of **some** people, there’s still a long way to go before they become truly mainstream, let alone challenge the role of the traditional browser-based Web. The consumer Web is over 15 years old and in that time many companies have been unable to figure out how to turn a profit from it. So to re-iterate my previous comment, it takes a huge dollop of optimism and/or ego to assume that these same companies will figure out how to build profitable apps in under two 
