Should My Business Have An App Or A Mobile Website?
The characteristic that distinguishes a mobile website from a standard website is the fact that it is designed for the smaller handheld display and touch-screen interface. It is similar to any other website in that it consists of browser-based HTML pages that are linked together and accessed over the Internet (for mobile typically WiFi or 3G or 4G networks). 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 (to dial a phone number) or location-based mapping.
A mobile website will deliver content and establish a broad mobile presence that can be easily shared between users and found on search engines.
A mobile website has a number of inherent advantages over apps, including broader accessibility, compatibility and cost-effectiveness.
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 app stores.
What is an App?
An app provides an interactive engagement with users and works more like a computer program than a website.
Consumer expectation is that Brands have an app for their mobile device.
Brands with compelling apps can ensure their presence remains in front of their customers on their mobiles and a viral app e.g. one with an engaging game, can do wonders for a business.
An App is an actual application that has to be downloaded and installed on your 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.
The app may pull content and data from the Internet, in similar fashion to a website, or it may download the content so that it can be accessed without an Internet connection.
If you need to provide offline access to content or perform functions without a network/wireless connection then an app makes sense.
Many companies have apps that provide functions e.g. a lawyer app at an accident – it capture a photo of the collision, allow you to make a voice recording of what happened, complete a written report…and send it there and then to a lawyer.
Many companies have an app with gaming facilities to engage their consumer and keep them returning.
What are the differences?
Cost, an app would be several times the price of a mobile website. It don’t end with the initial launch either. 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.
An app has to be found and downloaded. A mobile website has several ways of being on a mobile phone. 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. Mobile website URLs are easily integrated within other mobile technologies such as SMS, QR Codes and near field communication (NFC).
If one wants 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.
If you need to provide offline access to content or perform functions without a network/wireless connection then an app can do this where a mobile website cannot.
If you need something that will take data and also allow you to manipulate it with complex calculations, charts or reports, an app will help you do that very effectively a mobile website will not.
Mobile website 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).
Peter Fry is a mobile marketing and internet marketing consultant over 10 years. He lectures on mobile marketing and demonstrates latest mobile marketing campaigns from around the world. Companies wishing to have their website adapted can put in their order through his website http://www.websitetomobilewebsite.com and further details about apps for business can be sought by emailing Peter@peterfry.net.
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