Mobile Web Development: Mobile Site vs Mobile App

MobileWeb Usage Statistics.

based on Westminster eForum, March 2012 and Pew Research Center

• A sale coming from mobile phones on eBay comes every 2 seconds.
• Smartphone sales have become bigger than PC sales.
• Tablet sales are expected to exceed 100 million by the end of the year.
• 28% of Internet usage comes from a mobile phone.
• 86% of adults own a cellphone and 53% use it to access the Internet.

With the above stats, are you and your business prepared for the explosion of the mobile web? In this series, we already tackled four (4) ways to reach your mobileconsumers as well as the advantagesof Responsive Design over Mobile website (and vice versa). On this post, let’s see which between the two, by going through their features, would be the best solution to your business needs – would it be a mobile website or a mobile application?

When to use a Mobile Website.

As mobile websites were strategically designed for smartphones and not desktop PCs, they have been made efficient to show only the most relevant information compared to the full web version. Thus, they are mainly the effective choice if Analytics show that majority of the visits come from mobile devices.

When to use Mobile Apps.

Since mobile applications are stand-alone software aimed for a specific purpose, they normally direct the people to their own compact form of a browser for additional details. The apps then get the content from its server so that the downloader can retrieve it anytime. They are the best option if the target audience uses a tool regularly (like Evernote).

Here are ten (10) more factors that illustrate how they differ from each other.

1.      Ease of Access

·         Mobile site: may be accessed only when online

·         Mobile apps: may be accessed even when offline

2.      Availability of Content

·         Mobile site: instantly available since content may be viewed via browser

·         Mobile apps: available only after apps has been downloaded from the marketplace and installed on the gadget

3.      Ability to be searchable

·         Mobile site: easier to find because search engines have a distinct mobile search index similar to web’s

·         Mobile apps: harder to find as it all depends if the apps exists on the app store of manufacturer

4.      Ability to be shareable

·         Mobile site: easy to share, it takes only one click. It’s like sharing a regular web link, only it’s done on mobile

·         Mobile app: harder to share as the person either has to go to the marketplace first or download another app to enable sharing

5.      Compatibility

·         Mobile site: compatible to all device types – smartphones, tablets

·         Mobile apps: solely depends on the device. There are apps that might work on Apple but wouldn’t work on Android or Blackberry

6.      Integration Feature.

·         Mobile site: can integrate with existing technologies such as QR codes or SMS

·         Mobile apps: can integrate in terms of built-in features like camera or processing power

7.      Administrative User Control and Permission

·         Mobile site: the user has no authorization to the site except to “Read”. Complete control goes to the webmaster

·         Mobile apps: the user has the absolute authority to do anything he likes with the app. He can run it, retain or opt to delete it. He has “Read, Write and Execute” permission.

8.      Update and Maintenance

·         Mobile site: easy to update and maintain on the developers end. If the site is local and the layout needs to be changed, a web design expert in the Philippines can effortlessly do the work.

·         Mobile apps: hard to update and maintain due to its long procedure to do so. If the app is locally-made, the assigned iOS developer in the Philippines, will initially perform the update and compatibility debugging. Once tested, he will upload it along with documentation about the latest revision. The user will then transfer and install the newest copy on his phone.

9.      Cost and Affordability

·         Mobile site: more affordable due to updates and maintenance

·         Mobile apps: less affordable for the same reason

10.  Best suited for:

·         Mobile site: Ecommerce websites. The simple step-by-step instructions will guide prospective buyer to a simpler process of purchase

·         Mobile app: Interactive games

On the next post, discover techniques on how to optimize your current site tomake it mobile-friendly.