As part of our end-of-year predictions, we spoke with David Lavenda, VP of harmon.ie, an Israeli-US based company that develops mobile collaboration tools for Microsoft services in the enterprise sector. Lavenda writes a counter-point to some of last year’s predictions that apps were killing the web, advising us that such statements were a little knee-jerk in their reaction to statistics.

Lavenda explained to SiliconANGLE that a year ago the Wall Street Journal ran an article stating that “the web is dying; apps are killing it.” The basic premise, said Lavenda, was that people no longer want or need to use the web because there is a now-dedicated app for every need. He points to a Flurry survey that showed, “On phones 86% of our time is spent in apps, and just 14% is spent on the Web,” and quoting a pundit who said, “the dominance of apps as the natural state for software.”

“This,” says Lavenda, “is merely a transitory state.”

“When this all shakes out, people will expect to get their information from any device they are working on, a smartphone, a tablet, a computer, even a watch for the right application,” said Lavenda, adding that in the business world, the focus on supporting specific devices will go away as the expectation of ubiquitous access rises. “The device will become less relevant or irrelevant; it’s the access to the information and the ability to act and share that information is what is important,” he explained.

He went on to say that the focus on “the app” as a business model for business-related applications will wane. “Case in point,” he said, is that “Salesforce apps are available from all the app stores, but you don’t buy the app. Rather, you download the app for free and then login to a paid subscription to Salesforce.”

The same is true, he says, for the web access to Salesforce. “Software companies are keen on finding ways from the App Stores from clipping 30% from their software sales for simply distributing the app,” Lavenda said, explaining that this model will replicate itself over and over because “it just makes sense.”

“This is the ‘natural state for software’ – it just works and users don’t care how.” People, he feels, just want to be able to work from any device, any time, wherever they are. Therefore, the business model for enterprise software will focus on “access” to information and ability to act upon it, rather than on buying endpoint technology.

In conclusion, Lavenda believes that 2016 is the year where this takes off. “The implications for App Stores will be profound,” he believes. “The inability to cut 30% of sales from apps for ‘free’ apps from companies that make their money elsewhere will be palpable … and it will only grow over time.”

Photo credit: Cristiano Betta via Flickr