There’s a lot of buzz around mobile apps these days, and for good reason. You can do some pretty amazing things with these native programs, like access nutritional information for chain restaurant menus or get the title of a song playing at the coffee shop simply by holding your phone up to the speaker.
The substantial advantage that mobile apps have is they aren’t restricted by the limitations of the browser since they are launched directly from your mobile OS, allowing the application to have more powerful features.
The downside for developers is that an application has to be tailored to each mobile operating system out there. And although iPhone and Android offer the two most popular smartphone platforms out there, Blackberry, Palm and Nokia collectively own significant market share in the mobile space.
If developing multiple app versions doesn’t bother you (you’re fine just developing for the iPhone), be ready to face numerous barriers that stand in the way of mobile app victory:
- App store publishing fees – normally $100-200 per app submission for review
- Carrier revenue share – the cut the app store takes per paid app sale
- Stiff competition – gaming and banking are fiercely competitive
- Big brand dominance – people aren‘t searching for you if they don’t know you exist
- Short app shelf life – user engagement generally wanes quickly
- The dominance of paid placement – including both featured store placement and search placement (PPC)
In contrast, developing a mobile website does simplify the development process by requiring only one version of the site (great for accessibility), cuts out the middle man (app store), and offers a greater propensity to rank in organic search results compared to the volatile app store environment.
Although the gist of this article is admittedly dissuasive of app development, an impressive app can go a long way in strengthening one’s brand and engaging potential clients or customers. The question is, does your organization have a valuable service that would best serve the user via mobile app? More often than not, an app store regurgitation of the mobile website will not attract a following and will be lost forever in app store oblivion, along with all of the blood, sweat, and tears that went into its development. This is why knowing what your audience needs and what could be of value to them will help answer the question “to app or not to app”.
