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Mobile App Stores? Here’s a Dirty Little Not-So-Secret.

Mobile applications continue to attract great interest. Everybody wants an “app for that”, whatever “that” means to them.

The relentless hype drives many businesses to plough money into developing their own mobile applications, spend nail biting weeks waiting for App Store approval, have their mobile app rejected, sent back for bug fixing, re-submitted…you get the picture.

But wait, we are in the midst of a revolution in computing, cloud computing. In a time when everybody and their Granny are moving to online applications, the mobile world relentlessly marches on to the beat of a familiar drum. Software.

iPhone, app for that? Yes? Great. What about Google’s Android? What about Nokia? The list goes on.

Does it make sense to have a team of developers work on software, which needs maintenance, updates and support, then duplicate that for each device? Not really.

The dirty little not-so-secret is that you don’t need a mobile application to be on a smartphone. An alternative strategy exists in the form of a mobile web application but the approach is often overlooked.

A mobile web application is a great alternative in most cases, and guess what? No App Stores to worry about. Easily manage your mobile presence across many devices at the click of an upload.

This approach allows you to concentrate efforts on a single task, a single project. It will give you the flexibility to change direction on a dime and support new devices practically overnight.
As mobile web browsers continue to improve, it won’t be long before mobile apps will be web-based by default.

So if you are thinking you need a mobile application, think again. Consider a web-based approach instead and save yourself hassle, money and time.

2 Comments

Short memories though – Apple told everyone to make complex web apps when they unleashed the iPhone in 2007. And the response from the industry was – “Let us make native apps!”

And the rest is history.

Commented by mj 6 months ago.

Well, just read blog of Tomi Ahonen:
http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/

There you will find evidences based on real numbers, and huuuge explanation why web based apps are much better than native.

Not to mention, that there will be a lot of discourage toward iPhone.

Commented by Marek Gorecki 5 months ago.