Placing Big Bets On Mobile @ CTIA In Vegas
Whenever you put a bunch of big brains with vast expertise about a still-evolving industry in the same room, you’re bound to get some interesting and impassioned debates. Such was the case at Monday’s pre-conference sessions at CTIA Wireless in Las Vegas. There were a number of excellent speakers representing the perspectives of OEMs like Nokia and LG; carriers like Verizon and AT&T; and content providers like Travelocity and MTV.
I sat in on several of these sessions and heard a number of important topics being discussed that will have major implications for the future of mobile apps and mobile commerce. These debates included:
- Android vs. iPhone vs. Blackberry vs. Symbian
- Free vs. Paid apps
- OEM app stores vs. Carrier app stores
But perhaps the most interesting, fierce and recurring debate that I heard at CTIA was around the topic of… native apps (eg: separate iPhone, Android and Blackberry apps) vs. a single app for the mobile web. Which approach to “mobile” will win out in the end? How long will it take for a winner to emerge? What are the pros and cons of each? If you’re not familiar with this all-important topic, check out this report from ReadWriteWeb (pro-mobile web), this post from SmoothPlanet (pretty neutral), and this article from CNET (pro-native app).
We’ll be writing extensively on this subject in the coming weeks, but I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts. Have you already had this debate inside your company? If so, which path did you choose and why? And I’ll leave you with a great quote that I heard yesterday that all mobile developers should take to heart:
Don’t worry about making the mobile web… focus on making the web mobile.
Ultimately, this is true regardless of whether you choose to pursue a native app strategy or a mobile web strategy. The real goal is to deliver your content, your features, your functionality to your users, but on their terms.
Do not complicate the way you deliver information. Keep it short and to the point and your article promotion will certainly give more earnings than cheap articles based on piles upon piles of happy talk with no real message to share.