I like the transparency with their users. I like the awareness / intelligence of the pricing. And I like how its done with a marketing spin on it as well. (read more at Uber)
What mobile apps have been successful without a web component?
Continuing to post select Quora answers on my blog – you can view them here.
A few obvious themes and a couple apps associated with them:
- Gaming. Games make up the majority of the most successful paid applications. Examples: Angry Birds, Cut The Rope, Electronic Arts, etc. - Photos. There are numerous successful apps around photos - either as a network (Path (company), Instagram, etc) or around functionality (Hipstamatic, etc). They are improving a core utility around the device itself. Neither Path nor Instagram launched with web components. And Hipstamatic and others are entirely on the phone.
- Local & Device-Related Companies. Applications where location and/or the device are required components. Examples like FlightTrack, Uber (formerly UberCab), Shazam, etc.
- Messaging & Communication. Kik, Beluga, GroupMe, Tango, etc