Native Apps or Mobile Web? – You Decide
People love to choose sides. In the world of sports, Red Sox fans loathe the Yankees and the feeling is reciprocated in kind by denizens of New York. Back in the 80’s we (or our parents) argued whether Miller Lite’s best feature was its taste or the fact that it was less filling. More recently, Twilight fans were asked if they were on Team Edward or Team Jacob (If I recall, my wife abstained, deeming both “scrumptious.” But I digress…).
Nowadays, in the world of mobile development, the argument du jour revolves around whether or not – with the onset of HTML5 – mobile web will one day reign supreme over native apps.
Last week our own inimitable Jamie Saine wrote a post citing a prediction that both content and businesses’ desire to be found easily in browser searches are what will ultimately help mobile web dominate in the long run, if not now.
Yesterday, the newest member of our well-heeled uTest team, Katherine Slattery, offered a slightly more virulent rebuttal, citing numerous sources and pointing out that the native app ship has sailed and we’re all aboard. (There are also unverified rumors that Kate issued dismissive comments about the notion of mobile web surpassing native apps. We’re currently awaiting confirmation as to whether there were utterances of “Oh, come on…” or an insincere “Mmm-hmm, sure.”).
So now we ask you our loyal readers – what do you think? Do you feel mobile web will one day prevail? Or do you feel that native apps are going to remain supreme forever? Take a minute to (re-)read both posts and then choose your final position once and for all! (Or, you know, give us thoughtful, nuanced insight into the values presented by each position.) Either way, let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
mobile web apps are more scrumptious. It’s like comparing Google to Encyclopedia Britannica software; one is static until you update it, the other is dynamic and always up to date.
I believe HTML 5 has a great promise, apple is investing in it. . there is many things possible in the future of mobile! for me APPS now are great! I have one too!
The “weather” of any such prognostication might best be informed by the temperature and winds of the ever variant ecology better known together as technology, economy, politicology, probability and community (users , providers and stakeholders) – no matter how distant, remote from the predictor. Does the current article map all these – historically, currently and potentially? Are you willing to accept less or demand more? Is a sufficient weather gradient (sunny, partly sunny, cloudy, partly, cloudy, light rain, heavy …) enough granularity on a measurable scale (quantitative degrees as opposed to qualitative descriptions) availed or only absolutes (rain)? Is plausibility for the unexpected accounted – that is, is the factual scope limited (only a local experience as opposed to a global history)? To mix analogies, is the article playing with enough cards out of the deck of weather? Do they know the game? Given a hand of 2 cards (native and web) and no chance to pick another from the deck or blending their value as a hand (a suit or accumulation), accessing the value of the cards individually and throwing out one to make a bet might not be the game the way it will be played by rules not yet known. The weather was once forecast for the Navigator or the Explorer. And, then, what came on the horizon – already known on certain islands, to some remote to others charted? Did someone yell Yahoo at AltaVista and then got Google in a storm? Oh, how “micro” climates can grow “soft”. Beware of trendy information. Fortune tellers are limited by their person and the deck.
That said, one can admire much in the opposing articles: A) the pro-web article vs B) the pro-native article.
Are the largest number of mobile devices the upper end or the lower end? (Lower end.) Are such devices accessing iPhone content (apps, etc.) or web content? (non-iPhone) Are most mobile device users (particularly cellphone users in the USA) also home broadband users? (No.) Are most cellphone users in: USSR? (No.) USA? (No.) Europe? (No.) India? (No.) China? (Yes!). However, oddly (perhaps), there are more cellphones in use in the USA than there are people in the USA census (3% more phones than people, that is, 103%)! For Arabian countries (say, the UAE it’s 197%), cellphones out number the population by even more (almost double) compared to cellphones out numbering the population in the USA.
Does either article (A or B) grasp the weather globally? From the few snapshots I see, I see mostly localized snapshots, each a narrow region of fish-eyed space-time. However, I am no expert on the weather, vision (visionaries) or cards per se. Yet, I know there are millions of minds at work in the technical space though we wake up to a world – almost always – apparently 99% * x (where x is say plus or minus y insanity) as it was yesterday. Amazing how many (deprecated or not) technologies still remain on the earth! Despite VoIP you see tweeter, tweeter, tweeter still abuzz in the weather of the breeze.
The evolutionary course, random as it is, finds echo in the A author’s phrase “they just head toward the best content and utilities” – where I would add “connections (whether social or otherwise) and resource I/O”. Twitter capitalized on social weather in politicology and more broadly sociology. A consideration for resource I/O for instance is battery drain per united of perceived added value (the cost to process a local data store as opposed to search facilitates on a cloud) and trade-offs such as speed over time or thoroughness. An advance in battery life tips the equation one way and an increase in outer data store capabilities or size tips the equation in another way where each tip is offset by the users’ perceived need/experience. The “now” of these things would seem no more a good predictor of the “later” than current stock prices of some supposed ventures xyz and zyz in technology a guarantee of future behavior.
So, who is right? Ladies and gentlemen, place your bets … with further insights!