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Mobile Applications: Why Lead When You Can Follow

In our last post Mobile App Stores? Here’s a Dirty Little Not-So-Secret we mentioned that mobile web applications are a real alternative to software which needs to be downloaded through an App Store for it run on smartphones.

The irony of the post title seemed to have been lost on some. Of course, mobile web applications aren’t something new. It was in fact pushed by Apple when they released the 1st generation iPhone.

At that time software developers, perhaps unsurprisingly, were up in arms at this approach and wanted the ability to develop applications which ran directly on the iPhone. And why the hell not?

iPhone 1.0 came with sub-par connectivity, making for slow web browsing and a poor web experience unless you had WiFi. Running an application entirely from the web was a tough sell and impractical.

However, the situation has improved, iPhone 3G and 3GS have been released with a rumoured 4G version on the way. Mobile networks continue to improve and as we look ahead in the medium to long term, issues with mobile connectivity will diminish.

Reaching That Mobile Audience

For now we find ourselves in 2010, mobile developers got it their way and App Stores will exceed 4.5 billion downloads and consumers will spend $6.2 billion in them, according to a Gartner Inc. forecast. It has been a great success, albeit for a minority.

This success has come at a price though. It is hard to get noticed, the holy grail of a listing in the top 10 is near impossible. Sheer numbers and manual selection by humans with unpublished selection methods make it hard to judge how your application will ever get featured.

There are now multiple platforms to deal with as Apple’s approach was copied by BlackBerry, Google’s Android and Nokia. While building dedicated applications on fragmented mobile platforms further increases the difficulty in reaching that mobile audience.

It just doesn’t seem to make sense for businesses to chase a crowded mobile apps market. Especially if their business is not in the game of selling apps, but connecting with their customers.

Mobile Billing service, Bango, surveyed over 400 developers and content providers in the USA and Europe, and the results revealed:

*45% of developers plan to monetize their apps directly, in other words outside the app store

*48% think that although app stores will grow in importance in five years time, these channels will coexist alongside the mobile web

*iPhone tops the list, followed by Android and BlackBerry, for the most important handset/platform to develop an app for in 2010

Are Mobile Web Applications a Silver Bullet?

No. (gasps from the audience fill the blogosphere)

But mobile applications are not the only game in town, yet that message has long been drowned out by the intense coverage mobile applications have received.

The fact of the matter is that mobile web applications allow for greater simplification and flexibility in your mobile presence.

We firmly believe that mobile web applications will have an (equally) important part to play in the next few years and may just be the right approach for you.

Just look at any of Google’s new services which come with a mobile web version and not an application.

So, are you a leader or a follower?