Thanks largely to the success of the iPhone, manufacturers have discovered the profitability of opening architecture to a community of developers ready and willing to help make mobile products successful. As a consequence, more and more programmers have begun the flock to mobile application development. Still, there are far more busts than billionaires in the mobile application market. So how should a brand thinking about going mobile approach this influx of tech-savvy know-how? Put simply: A calm, calculated approach is what is needed when deciding on how and when to enter into the mobile arena.
Possibly the most important question to ask is whether or not a native application, meaning one that runs on the phone’s own operating system, is called for at all. In many cases an optimized website is a perfectly reasonable and often times a less frustrating solution. As mobile technology advances, more of the smartphone browsers support technologies such as JQuery, AJAX and even a limited version of HTML 5. What this means is that brands have the option to develop a web application that is just as dynamic as an equivalent native app.
The advantages of web based mobile applications are many. Mobile Safari and the Android Browser are based on the same WebKit framework and, while there are differences, both browsers are generally considered compliant with current web standards. This can allow a website optimized for a mobile screen to render well on multiple devices, while native applications must be built from the ground up for each platform. Another headache you avoid when choosing to build a web application is the app approval process. To the frustration of many a developer, Apple reserves the right to reject any application for any reason.
So why even consider building a native application? Some compelling reasons are to utilize device hardware such as the GPS or camera in an Android phone or the iPhone accelerometer. If your application fails to capitalize on one of these hardware features then chances are you could easily accomplish the goal with a web-based application. The next thing to consider is web accessibility. Although rare, there are still some times when users find themselves without access to a wifi hot spot or 3G coverage. In these circumstances are they going to need to access your application? The answer to this question is usually no, but sometimes locally stored content is preferable to the cloud. Possibly the best reason to build a native app isn’t a technical reason at all. The iTunes App Store and Android Marketplace offer built in exposure that is difficult to achieve otherwise. A quality application can find itself on one of Apple’s top charts, or even featured in one of Apple’s TV spots like the Pizza Hut application.
This is a good start to any discussion about mobile opportunities, but it’s really only the tip of the iceberg. Technology remains trending toward portable solutions. Handset processing power continues to grow and notebooks/netbooks get increasingly smaller. The lines between the two are beginning to blur and tomorrow may see the moniker of “mobile” computing disappear altogether. In the future all computing may very well be mobile. How brands react in this space today could have a long and lasting impact on their permanent digital presence.
Thanks largely to the success of the iPhone, manufacturers have discovered the profitability of opening architecture to a community of developers ready and willing to help make mobile products successful. As a consequence, more and more programmers have begun to flock to mobile application development. Still, there are far more busts than billionaires in the mobile application market. So how should a brand thinking about going mobile approach this influx of tech-savvy know-how? Put simply: A calm, calculated approach is needed when deciding how and when to enter the mobile arena.
Possibly the most important question to ask is whether a native application – meaning one that runs on the phone’s own operating system – is called for at all. In many cases, an optimized website is a perfectly reasonable and oftentimes less frustrating solution. As mobile technology advances, more smartphone browsers support technologies such as JQuery, AJAX and even a limited version of HTML 5. What this means is brands have the option to develop a web application that may be just as dynamic as an equivalent native app.
The advantages of web-based mobile applications are many. Mobile Safari and the Android Browser are based on the same WebKit framework, and while there are differences, both browsers generally are considered compliant with current web standards. This can allow a website optimized for a mobile screen to render well on multiple devices, while native applications must be built from the ground up for each platform. Another headache you avoid when choosing to build a web application is the app approval process. To the frustration of many a developer, Apple reserves the right to reject any application for any reason.
So why even consider building a native application? Some compelling reasons are to utilize device hardware such as the GPS or camera in an Android phone or the iPhone accelerometer. If your application fails to capitalize on one of these hardware features, then chances are you probably could accomplish the goal with a web-based application. The next thing to consider is web accessibility. Although rare, there are still times when users find themselves without access to a Wi-Fi hot spot or 3G coverage. In these circumstances, are they going to need to access your application? The answer is usually no, but sometimes locally stored content is preferable to the cloud. Possibly the best reason to build a native app isn’t a technical reason at all. The iTunes App Store and Android Marketplace offer built-in exposure difficult to achieve otherwise. A quality application can find itself on one of Apple’s top charts or even featured in one of Apple’s TV spots like the Pizza Hut application.
This is a good start to any discussion about mobile opportunities, but it’s really only the tip of the iceberg. Technology continues to trend toward portable solutions. Handset processing power grows and notebooks/netbooks get increasingly smaller. The lines between the two are beginning to blur, and tomorrow may see the moniker of “mobile” computing disappear altogether. In the future, all computing very well may be mobile. How brands react in this space today could have a long and lasting impact on their permanent digital presence.
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