No, not that Cola, although I see their name is as original as their app
Few things are currently being worked on as much as apps. Since they are the primary products for smart phones, and smart phones are this decade’s big IT thing, it would be really surprising if developers stopped working on them any time soon.
But the real problem begins when the market get oversaturated with apps doing the same thing. You might think that that can’t be true. For example, look at the real world – there are so many businesses that start up and fail, some that end up successful and others that go bankrupt immediately, and the market is still up and running. But that’s because it’s the real word.
Apps are a totally different thing. This is owed to the fact that anybody can put out an app without actually having to own a company or anything else of the type. This means that if the product fails, it still remains on the market, unused, taking up space and possibly taking the spotlight from other, far better apps out there.
One type of app that has oversaturated the market is the messaging app. There’s a huge amount of messaging apps on both the App Store and on Google Play, some better than others, some ran by big, international companies such as Facebook and Google, and some made by independent third parties.
And a new player is about to join the party, as Bubbles text messaging app is launched by Cola. Continuing to oversaturate the market despite their knowledge that they’re doing so, Bubbles is yet another new, yet stale take on instant messaging. According to David Temkin, Cola’s CEO,
Messaging apps are never done. They are the core function of these devices. They will never stop evolving.
The problem is that that’s exactly what they’re doing. Sure, adding a feature that allows you to send your recipient a list of three hours or dates from which they can choose one and then automatically adding it to your calendar may sound useful once in a blue moon, but this is the problem. It’s not in any way evolution.
Adding the occasional extra features to the same type of app over and over again doesn’t only oversaturate the market with the same slightly different thing, but it also prevents truly creative and innovative spirits from having their own apps discovered.
But the most upsetting part is how the app is being promoted. The company’s CEO, previously working for AOL, is certain that soon all browsing will take place in text messages, making browsers and other apps obsolete.
While this is ridiculous for a wide array of reasons, it’s the ego behind the statement that a simple messaging app can change the entire smart phone industry that truly managed to get to me.
Image source: Wikimedia
