I just went to visit the Bathing Ape website when I was confronted with a strange call to action on the first page... DOWNLOAD. "What’s this all about?" I thought as I pressed the shiny silver button.
Seems like Bape is taking an interesting approach to their website and rather than just having users visit and interact from the browser, you download a standalone player that IS the website. I’m sure we will start to see more companies take this approach as they try and differentiate themselves in a cluttered market.
In another example, eBay is currently working on its codenamed San Dimas Project, which is a standalone version of the eBay site built using AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime, formerly codenamed Apollo). Pretty cool, take a look for yourself!
Rey Peralta
Strategists & Planners
Comments (4)
Interesting as I have been watching the eBay effort and can see this for heavy and invested users.
As for a standard website experience, is this not an extra barrier to entry - in an already crowded marketplace... not to mention it just crashed my browser... I will not be going back, but will take your word for the experience.
Posted by Kristian Schwartz | September 18, 2007 2:08 PM
Posted on September 18, 2007 14:08
No, the implication is bigger. This platform will allow designers to no longer have to worry about load times and the bandwidth my grandmother has, instead Flash sites can be as robust and heavy as we want them. The end user will run them off of their desktop and take advantage of their local computer's RAM and graphics capabilities, not a browsers. It will change the game, especially for companies looking to create brand experiences like Toyota did with the Scion site... no longer will you have to wait 3 minutes between sections to kill aliens, it will run as quickly as it was designed to.
Apollo... if done right and depending on the adoption rate of Silverlight could remove the ceiling on creativity.
Posted by Greg | September 19, 2007 8:37 AM
Posted on September 19, 2007 08:37
doubt it. the internet is dead... advertising is just catching the wave that already rode.
Posted by losifer | September 19, 2007 1:45 PM
Posted on September 19, 2007 13:45
This is definitely an opportunity for well known brands to provide better user experiences. But it is also a potential technical minefield.
How do you let someone know that they're downloading a self-contained swf and their browser won't be executing code that loads up their system with malware? Will the average user understand this or will they heed warnings about installing applications from websites? And how long before there are spoof sites ready to trap unsavvy users and load up their systems with viruses and keystroke loggers?
Trusted brands can benefit, since they have the brand recognition needed for permission. I'm not sure how the rest will fare.
Posted by briang | September 21, 2007 6:21 PM
Posted on September 21, 2007 18:21