India’s e-commerce start-up Flipkart has worked with Google to make a new mobile website that could eliminate the need for apps, in a move that takes a swipe at Apple’s grip on the mobile experience.
On Monday, Flipkart unveiled the website, which it created with the Google team that focuses on the mobile web browser Chrome. The two made a site that supports push notifications, the ability to search for and read information while offline, location-based data and access to hardware features like a smartphone’s camera. While such features have long been available in apps that people download to their phones, they typically have not been prevalent on mobile websites.
Flipkart plans to show other companies what it took to build the website — including the hurdles it had to overcome and the weaknesses it found — at Google’s Chrome Developers Conference this month. Google’s parent company is Alphabet.
“When users go to mobile websites, they’re often asked to download an app because the experience and functionality is better,” said Peeyush Ranjan, Flipkart’s head of engineering. But apps have their downsides, and it can be harder to get people to download them than it is to get people to visit a website, he said. What’s more, websites can easily be updated to fix security problems or other glitches, but users might not update their apps, he said.
So “we approached Chrome and asked if the team there could make these app capabilities or improve features they had already created,” said Mr. Ranjan, a former engineer at Google.
In collaborating with Flipkart, Google is hoping the new mobile site will spawn many imitators. The search giant has long battled with Apple over who will deliver information to mobile device users, a fight that has left some companies caught in the middle.
Apple wants to encourage consumers to get their information and services from apps, which people can download from its App Store and which have helped make the company’s iPhone a must-have device. Google wants people to use the open web, since that lets the company show web search ads to as many people as possible.
“Ultimately, we want this to have an impact on how people use the mobile web,” said Rahul Roy-Chowdhury, director of product management at Chrome. He said this is especially true in emerging markets like India, where smartphone adoption is booming but connectivity is sporadic or slow and it is hard to store apps because of slow download times.
Chrome has been releasing new features and tools to make using the mobile web easier. Late last year, Chrome introduced service workers, which let websites support offline experiences. In April, Chrome announced support for mobile web push notifications. Facebook, Vice News and Pinterest have since integrated the feature.
Flipkart is perhaps the first large consumer company to use all of the new pieces of Chrome to make a website that comes close to replicating an app.
Other companies are also trying to build mobile websites that behave like apps. A San Francisco company called Wrap Media, for example, builds mobile websites that look and feel like apps and that can be viewed inside social networks, messaging apps or on the web.
Eric Greenberg, founder of Wrap, said he is helping companies that want to create the best experience for users without being dependent on the app ecosystem.
“As long as the web isn’t really usable on a mobile phone, Apple wins,” Mr. Greenberg said.