Re: Tumblr is a website, right?
"It's called ease of use. It's a thing many, many software engineers often forget, they write great code, but the actual interface is a frustrating pile of shit."
Software engineers, web designers, who cares.
If it's a piece of poo it's a piece of poo regardless of who designed it.
Needing a dedicated app so that a large proportion of users of a website's content can conveniently access that content *may* just mean that the original website design is too poo for much of its intended market. Whose fault is that?
Or does the logical conclusion of this trend lead to a separate app for every big website, thereby getting rid of the original concepts(s) of browsers and content and websites and sharing, and reintroducing a set of unconnected and unconnectable 1990s CompuServe/AOL style walled gardens? You never know, it might work. Not.
On the other hand, I think the concept of "slurping" and/or "monetising" may well be significant in this picture.