The popularity of the World Wide Web is on the wane or so it seems, says an article in Wired.
Gone are the days when we needed to get online to check our e-mails. Applications like iPad, Facebook, Twitter, RSS feeds, Skype and Internet messengers are ruling our lives.
The habit is catching up, fast. Over the past few years, the Internet-savvy population has moved from the wide-open Web to semiclosed platforms. It's a whole new world sans HTML (hypertext markup language).
Just as a decade ago, the ascent of the Web appeared inevitable, so also now is the time for the Web to step aside and make room for the applications.
In 1997, Wired published a now-infamous 'Push!' cover story, which suggested it was time to 'kiss your browser goodbye.'
The story spoke about how 'push' technologies such as PointCast and Microsoft's Active Desktop would create a 'radical future of media beyond the Web.'
The consumers are drawn to this newfound world not because they hate the Web but because these platforms fit into their lives better and more conveniently.
The same article borrows from Compete, a Web analytics company, which says the top 10 Web sites accounted for 31 per cent of US pageviews in 2001, 40 per cent in 2006, and about 75 per cent in 2010.
"Big sucks the traffic out of small," says Russian investor YurirMilner.
"In theory you can have a few very successful individuals controlling hundreds of millions of people. You can become big fast, and that favours the domination of strong people."
A pertinent point indeed!
