Mobile apps vs mobile web
- 1. Mobile Apps 2011It’s like 1995 all over again!
- 2. Why use an App?What’s the case for building and supporting a mobile app?
- 3. Why use an App?Apps start fast and can be configured to run in background on ~most devices.Apps can run local data – including big media, really fast - offline.This is a big deal if you’re travelling. Roaming data is $$$ - your mobile really shouldn’t be roaming data. Self contained apps are OK on aircraft/at airports.
- 4. Why use an App?Apps can authenticate a user’s device with their own ~signature – offline/on the device itself. This is a big deal with something that gets left in the back of so many taxis/pinched at the train station.It’s also a big opportunity around alternative CC/payments models: Square.
- 5. Why use an App?Apps can access hardware (accelerometer and GPS) – but so can Safari these days. Mag swipe CC reader and proximity protocols for payments is hardware. The jscript engine in Safari is hobbled – so blagging an app through the App Store this way isn’t a good roadmap for your Thing.Apps can log location while the device is offline.Apps can consume push messaging and do stuff ~on demand from the network. This is a big deal for audiences we need to ~poke!
- 6. Great! So, Why not use an app for everything?Apps are device and OS specific – across about a dozen developing devices and 3-4 evolving OS in varied and changing markets.iApps are a PiTA to deploy if you also have other schedules.Apps are a PITA to deploy and maintain on one device, and pure joy on several.Australia’s Apple fans are un-usual – ROW uses *everything* including RIM’s BlackBerry, so unless it’s a toy.. The user’s app data is vulnerable when the phone is lost/stolen/tethered/compromised. If you can’t push to the local DB on each device you can’t recall, delete or secure what has been published!The very reasons for using an app also conspire to make your installation base a potential time bomb.
- 7. ‘So, Apps are ideal for gamers, travelers, taxi drivers and cashiers alike?’Yes, apps are a PITA, but it’s a big new landscape with dramatic growth on several horizons, and some applications are really *very* compelling!The case for using an app stems from what the devices can do – but you need to maintain this landscape at a device level too, so treat this zone as a commitment beyond launch.
- 8. Next steps?If you really need an app, you probably need a framework beyond just the App Store to manage it.Mobile Web may meet your needs?