Mobile technology has been a catalyst for radical change in everything from the social media experience to software distribution, ultimately reshaping society and molding behavior in largely unanticipated ways.
Several Web3 companies are now exploring using mobile hardware and operating systems to drive mass adoption of Web3 by sidestepping restrictive app store policies seen on traditional Big Tech platforms and lowering the barrier to entry for users struggling with the technical user interfaces of current Web3 products.
In an interview with Cointelegraph, Max Richter of the Aphone team, a decentralized Web3 operating system that can run on smartphones, tablets, and computers, discussed the role of mobile technology in driving Web3 adoption.
Richter explained that many Web3 developers currently have trouble listing decentralized applications on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Even if approved, the software developers must contend with these stores taking a considerable chunk of revenue for listing their applications. The software developer had this to say about the high barrier to entry imposed on Web3 builders by traditional app stores:
“If you’re really struggling to get your apps on board or improving the App Store, which is usually what we see the most, is that there’s a lot of due diligence that goes in on that side.”
Richter also touched on the role mobile-style operating systems play in abstracting away the technicalities of Web3 through easy-to-use touch icons and integrated wallets, as opposed to users “fumbling around trying to create wallets,” or falling prey to sophisticated phishing scams.