Which is Best for Your Organization?
Posted by Jason Summerfield
Marketing & Outreach - A Mobile Website is the Place to Start
If you are planning to establish a mobile presence for your organization, a first
consideration is whether you want to create a mobile
application ("app") for users to download or a mobile website,
or perhaps both. Mobile websites and apps can look very similar at first-glance,
and determining which is most suited to your
needs will depend upon a number of factors, including target audience, available budget,
intended purpose, and required features.
What are the Differences Between an App and a Mobile Website?
Both apps and mobile websites are accessed on a handheld devices such as tablets and
smartphones (e.g. iPhone, Android, Blackberry). However, before you can evaluate
the benefits of a mobile website vs. an app it is critical to understand the key
differences between the two.
A mobile website is similar to any other website in that it consists of browser-based
HTML pages and accessed over the Internet. They require no special software.
The main characteristic that distinguishes a mobile website from a standard website
is it is designed for a smaller handheld display and touch-screen interface.
Like any website, mobile websites can display text content, data, images, and video. They
can also access mobile-specific features such as click-to-call (dial a phone number) or
location-based mapping.
Mobile Apps are downloaded and installed on a mobile
device--rather than being rendered within a browser. Users visit device-specific portals
such as Apple's App Store, Android Market, or Blackberry App World in order to
find and download apps for a given operating system.
Which is Better: a Mobile App or a Mobile Website?
When it comes to deciding whether to build a native app or a mobile website, the most
appropriate choice really depends on your end goals. If you are developing an
interactive game, an app is probably going to be your best option. But if your goal is to
offer mobile-friendly content to the widest possible audience than a mobile website
is decidely the appropriate way to go. In some cases you may decide you need both
a mobile website and a mobile app, but it is pretty safe to say that it rarely makes
sense to build an app without already having a mobile website in place.
Generally speaking, a mobile website should be considered your first step
in developing a mobile web presence, whereas an app is useful for a
specific purpose that cannot be effectively accomplished via a web browser.
Advantages of a Mobile Website vs. Native Apps
If your goals are primarily related to marketing or public communications, a mobile website
is almost always going to make sense as a practical first step in your mobile outreach
strategy. This is because a mobile website has a number of inherent advantages over apps,
including broader accessibility, compatibility and cost-effectiveness.
- Immediacy - Mobile Websites Are Instantly Available.
A mobile website is instantly accessible to users via a browser across a range of mobile devices
(iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, etc). On the other hand, apps require the user to first download
and install the app from an app marketplace before the content or application can be
viewed - a significant barrier between initial engagement and action/conversion.
- Compatibility - Mobile Websites are Compatible Across Devices
A single mobile website can reach users across many different types of mobile devices,
whereas native apps require a separate version to be developed for each type of device.
As a result, apps are far more expensive to develop than a mobile website. Furthermore,
mobile website URLs are easily integrated within other mobile technologies
such as SMS, QR Codes and near field communication (NFC);
this is not always true for apps.
- Upgradability - Mobile Websites Can Be Updated Instantly
A mobile website is much more dynamic than an app in terms of pure flexibility to update
content. If you want to change the design or content of a mobile website you simply
publish the edit once and the changes are immediately visible; updating an app on
the other hand requires the updates to be pushed to users, which then must be
downloaded in order to update the app on each type of device.
- Searchibility - Mobile Websites Can be Easily Found
Mobile websites are much easier for users to find because their pages can be
displayed in search results and listed in industry-specific directories, making it easy
for qualified visitors to find you. Most importantly, visitors to your regular website
can be automatically sent to your mobile site when they are on a handheld
(using device-detection). In contrast, the visibility of apps are largely restricted
to manufacturer's app store.
- Shareability - Mobile Websites Can be Shared by Publishers and Between Users
Mobile website URLs are easily shared between users via a simple link
(e.g. within an email or text message, QR Codes,
Facebook or Twitter). Publishers can easily direct users to a mobile website from
a blog or website, or even in print. An app simply cannot be shared in this fashion.
- Reach - Mobile Websites Snag a Larger Audience
Because a mobile website is accessible across platforms and can be easily shared among
users, as well as search engines, it has far greater reach capability than a native app.
- Immutability - Mobile Websites Can't be Deleted
The average shelf-life of an app is pretty short, less than 30 days according to some
research; so unless your app is something truly unique and/or useful (ideally, both),
it's questionable how long it will last on a user's device. In contrast - mobile websites
are always available for users to return to them.
- A Mobile Website Can be an App!
Just like a standard website, mobile websites can be developed as database-driven web
applications that act very much like native apps. A mobile web application can be a
practical alternative to native app development.
- Time and Cost - Mobile Websites are Easier and Less Expensive
Last, but certainly not least, mobile website app development is considerably more time
and cost-effective than development of a native app, especially if you need to have
a presence on different platforms (requiring development of multiple apps).
- Support and Sustainability
The investment considerations of app vs website do not end with the initial launch;
properly supporting and developing an app (upgrades, testing, compatibility issues and
ongoing development) is more much more expensive and involved than supporting a website
over time.
Does an App Ever Make Sense?
Yes. Despite the many inherent benefits of a mobile website, apps are still very popular,
and there are a number of specific use scenarios where an app will be your best choice.
Generally speaking, if you need one of the following, an app is the best option:
- Interactivity/Gaming - for interactive games (think Angry Birds) an app is
almost always going to be your best choice, at least for the foreseeable future.
- Complex Calculations or Reporting - If you need something that will take
data and allow you to manipulate it with complex calculations, charts or reports
(think banking or investment) an app will help you do that very effectively.
- Native Functionality or Processing Required - mobile web browsers are
getting increasingly good at accessing certain mobile-specific functions such as
click-to-call, SMS and GPS. However, if you need to access a user's camera or
processing power an app will still do that much more effectivley.
- No Connection Required - If you need to provide offline access to content
or perform functions without a network/wireless connection then an app makes sense.
As with any project, when developing an app you want to ensure that your are getting an
optimal return on your investment. What you want to avoid at all costs is the needless and
expensive exercise of building an app to do something basic that can be achieved with
a mobile website.
Conclusion
As long as mobile remains a relatively new frontier, the "app vs web" question will remain
a very real consideration for organizations seeking to establish a mobile presence. If your
mobile goals are primarily marketing-driven, or if your aim is to deliver content and
establish a broad mobile presence that can be easily shared between users and found on
search engines, then a mobile website is the logical choice. On the other hand, if
your goal is interactive engagement with users, or to provide an application that needs to
work more like a computer program or game, an app is probably required.
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