Mobile Apps: Native or web apps?
In the book Flash Foresight: How to See the Invisible and Do the Impossible, by Daniel Burrus, the author discusses the analysis of hard trends and soft trends as a tool of prediction. A soft trend is one that is changeable and unsustainable, while the hard trend is one that can't be influenced and is certain to continue.
The shift toward mobile devices is a hard trend, one that is creating new demand for services supporting mobile content and computing.
Part of this new demand is the exploding need for native and web applications for smartphones. For site owners and developers, there is a choice to be made. Native or web?
Native Apps vs Web Apps
Native apps can have steep learning and development curves if you're doing it yourself, and can be costly if outsourcing the work to a developer. Web apps can lack the features and speed that native apps provide, but can be quickly developed, deployed and maintained using HTML, CSS, PHP/MySQL, and Javascript, tools familiar to a large subset of developers.
Web Apps: A low-cost solution
Doing an analysis of my own requirements for providing mobile content, I determined the web app path was the one for me. At this stage, the apps don’t need to tap into the smartphone's advanced native features like accelerometer, GPS, etc. Down the road, if there was increased demand for more robust features, I could always opt for the more complex solution of a native app. Not only that, the web app version would already be in place to serve that audience.
Another solid reason the web app route is ideal is its cross-platform nature. Web apps are ready to display on Android, Blackberry and iPhone, although consideration for Blackberry is waning. With a native application, three separate apps would need to be created and managed.
Armed with this information, I proceeded to spend my resources on developing web apps.
Recent data that supports the web app route
The recent GigaOM article "Smartphone owners turn to retail mobile websites over mobile apps" made me feel like I had made the right decision. Simply, it states that, according to new Nielsen data, "smartphone users during the holidays preferred mobile retail sites 51 percent to 28 percent for native apps".
What are some of the reasons for this? "Many users are coming in from links via email or social media or just typing in a URL. These users want to shop or research and don’t necessarily want to download an app at that moment. Having a robust mobile website is good for meeting that demand and allows publishers to take advantage of web traffic and SEO better than they can through native apps," the article says.
One of the article's conclusions? "For now, it looks like a native app is key for deeper engagement but the mobile web is important for reach."
Web app frameworks
For the developer, what tools exist to help lay the foundation for a mobile web app?
So far, I've experimented with the following:
- iWebkit - From the iWebkit website: "iWebKit is a file package designed to help you create your own iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad compatible website or webapp."
- jQuery Mobile - From the jQuery Mobile website: "A unified, HTML5-based user interface system for all popular mobile device platforms, built on the rock-solid jQuery and jQuery UI foundation. Its lightweight code is built with progressive enhancement, and has a flexible, easily themeable design."
Another framework I am quite interested in but have yet to dive into:
- PhoneGap - From the PhoneGap website: "PhoneGap is an HTML5 app platform that allows you to author native applications with web technologies and get access to APIs and app stores. PhoneGap leverages web technologies developers already know best... HTML and JavaScript."
Ultimately, a careful analysis of the user experience you wish to provide should quickly dictate what your app’s requirements are and what technology you'll choose.
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