The discussion rages on. I continue to enjoy the experience of native applications much more. But there seem to be a lot of people out there jumping on the ‘mobile browser application‘ bandwagon. Of course everyone has a reason for it but if we focus solely on the end user (how about that?) the native applications provide a richer and better experience (not to mention better integration with device functionality). Inside the enterprise (as we attempt to mobilize our workers) this argument hasn’t taken off just yet. This is mostly because it adds a layer of complexity (and costs) to the roll out and support of multiple devices and platforms.
For now, I leave you with two stories:
A small post and a video from an interview…
The biggest complaint coming from mobile developers is that there are just too many darn cell phone platforms and devices for which they need to create applications. Compared to the dozens of platforms in the cell phone world, developing applications for PCs is a breeze. But until the cell phone world gets a whole lot simpler, there’s an answer to all that confusion, says Jon von Tetzchner, co-Founder and CEO of Opera Software: the browser.
Jason presents and refutes the most common arguments for why iPhone applications need to be built using native code instead of web technology.
Three of the arguments either don’t apply in all cases or are simply wrong.
The five most common arguments for native app development are:
1. Offline Mode — The ability to continue to use an application when you are not connected to the Internet.
2. Findability — If you’re not in the App Store, people won’t be able to find your application.
3. Performance — Javascript on mobile is too slow to use for application development.
4. Device Attributes — The need to access things like the camera, gps and the accelerometer.
5. Monetization — The ease with which people can and will buy your application.These five reasons are also provided to argue for native app development on other platforms like Android and Blackberry as well.
Now It’s Your Turn
Regardless of the number of visitors to the Mobile Strategy Blog we always have a tough time collecting opinions and commentary. Not sure if it has to do with our style or with our readers… But we do value your opinion and we would like to hear your thoughts on this topic (and all the others of course). So please drop us a line or leave a comment below:
– What are your thoughts?
– Are these arguments one-sided?
– What are you developing for?
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s funny Jose, I blogged on a similar topic just last night.
I think mobile will continue to fragment as manufacturers compete. This fragmentation means businesses are forced to make strategic business decisions about what platforms to support and how.
There are no easy answers. I think businesses have to look at their demographics and determine what tools are necessary for any given feature to reach each particular demographic.
Thanks for dropping by David.
You make some good points in your article. Especially when you mention the ‘Chosen Ones.’ In an outward looking mobile strategy (to the market as opposed to internally in the organization) whenever a decision for a platform is made we are automatically leave other customers ‘out.’ What is that worth?
Mobile applications did not all of a sudden emerged when the iPhone 2.0 update was released, it’s just that Apple effectively market the efforts of smaller developers. The idea of going native or browser extends beyond user experience and leans on the depth of the developer’s knowledge. I would imagine Dashcode is more prevalent due to lower entry point than harden languages like Objective-C or JAVA. With tools such as Phonegap (http://phonegap.com/) and visual program models like atlas (http://280atlas.com/), this argument may one day be irrelevant.
There are two sets of answers, now and “later.”
Now: Applications have strengths, and weaknesses, compared to web sites. These are myriad, and when I teach on the topic it takes well over an hour to really explore them all. And that’s just the user experience issues. Neither is inherently better than the other for all cases.
On the discoverability issue, for example, an app is discoverable if (a) a user is seeking out the content explicitly in the app store and the store and meta data are well designed or (b) the user stumbles across the app in a web page or other shared content. Please note that the second option leverages all the power of the web.
Apps currently have “richer” interactions, until you need to connect to some other part of your life. Then you at best have a change in UI, context, data set, etc. So from other perspectives, web sites can have richer interactions.
Later: Native features available via API to browser & widgets (e.g., BONDI) make web more app-like; some approaches will make apps more web-like walled gardens (e.g., Microsoft OneApp), and ubiquitous multi-tasking, smoother copy/paste and threads through applications will make applications more web-like.
Barbara’s comment summarizes things well.
My blog post wasn’t meant to say that people shouldn’t develop native applications. My mobile life would be much poorer if that were the case.
Instead, I’m arguing that a lot of people have become so infatuated with the promise of the iPhone App Store that they have lost sight of the big picture.
Here are a couple of thoughts to consider:
* Google has this idea that there are three behaviors for mobile: “Repetitive now,” “Bored now,” and “Urgent now.” In the case of someone needing information urgently, do businesses want to insist that they found and installed a native application in order for them to be able to be served? I would argue that if a company has an iPhone application, but doesn’t have a mobile web site, that in most cases they’ve made a mistake in where they should have spent their first mobile dollars.
* What happens as the demographics shift? Feature phone sales are decreasing and smart phone sales continue to increase. We have $99 iPhones now. We’re headed towards a future where smart phones will likely be the majority of sales. When that happens, it means a lot of people will own smart phones who are not technically savvy. My in-laws are talking about getting an iPhone. They like the idea of being able to browse the web on their phone. They haven’t installed any applications on their Mac that I haven’t installed. They fit a very attractive demographic for businesses. Are businesses going to assume that they will install a native application in order for them to be customers? If so, they will have lost potential customers.
You may say, “Well no company would be so stupid as to build a native application when they haven’t made sure that their basic information is easily available on the mobile web.” But that’s simply not the case. The iPhone has it’s own reality distortion field.
Finally, it is essential that the mobile web is a viable alternative to native applications–particularly native applications that have App Store gatekeepers. Apple tells us that we must trade freedom–including freedom of expression–for security because mobile phones have so much more personal data on them. I’m going to be writing more about this in the coming week.
Thanks for reading my post and for hosting the discussion.
mobile developers is that there are just too many darn cell phone platforms and devices for which they need to create applications. Compared to the dozens of platforms in the cell phone world,
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Good discussion and article, there are additional options as I as I noted on GigaOm…
Another alternative for companies looking to solve the dilemma of development and support for multiple platforms and multiple devices is to build once, run the apps on company servers and then deliver the apps to any Receiver enabled mobile device. Many companies ( 200,000+ ) already have Citrix XenApp infrastructure in place and keeping the data in the data center solves the other primary IT concern for security. Applications including RIA and Windows can be developed with existing platforms and skills simply redefining the size of the UI view. Virtual Channels can also be built to utilize local resources such as GPS or I/O.
The only limitation is that connectivity is required. For many company apps that is a requirement anyway for real time data access.
See ” Build Once, Deliver Anywhere ”
http://community.citrix.com/x/2wNqB
To me, offline storage is truly a critical component to enabling a proper user mobile experience, so immediately two points of concern come to mind when I hear this topic come up over and over: “online vs offline” access to content and control over a network and its security when non-standard access to a custom server is required.
To both points I’ve personally found that a custom web-server / web service that dispenses binary content over https and a native mobile solution that knows how to deal with it efficiently to be the most reasonable approach. Not only can you store the data offline and guarantee a user access to their business-critical data when the network is not accessible but you also enable IT to have ultimate control their network and security through standard web protocols and port exposure.
I guess it comes down to choosing the best platform and tools for the job, but I still seem to keep ending up with the above configuration that generates the most success for my clients.
Unless there is a need for device specific feature (like camera, GPS etc.,), the need for a native application is not justified, esp. for the enterprise.
The cost for building & maintaining native apps for many platforms (and versions thereof) is prohibitive and very hard to justify ROI. If the required features can be delivered by a Web app, it should be the first choice.
Check my thoughts around this topic at http://www.gmanju.com (my blog)
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