Mobile website vs native mobile application? The answer is simple:
With the option of reaching smartphone users via a mobile website or a native mobile application for their operating system, it can be tricky to know which is the better option. So it’s handy that research group Forrester have suggested the best route is to do both!
“Sixty percent of US consumers who download apps also access the Internet via their mobile phones at least daily while 63 percent of US iPhone owners access the mobile Internet on a daily basis,” Forrester said. The Forrester report says that apps often fulfill a “lean-back” role for consumers while browsers fulfill a “lean-forward” role.
Obviously it could get expensive to develop a mobile website plus an app for each platform, which seems like a good time to remind you about our extremely cost effective application builder for both iOS and Android devices.
Not looking good for Nokia – even in Europe:
There has long been split between the U.S and Europe in terms of mobile devices – Nokia has been number 1 around the world for a long time, and yet has remained almost completely absent in the American market.
But following on from agreement with Microsoft to utilise Windows Phone 7, staff restructuring and the decision to remove the Symbian platform from their plans, the need for change has been spelt out as Samsung has become the top mobile phone vendor for Western Europe in the first quarter of 2011, and Apple has claimed top spot when smartphones are separated out.
Newspapers and magazines to be judged on application users:
The UK Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) is the body which reports audience figures for national and regional media, including newspapers and magazines. And since May 1, 2011, it has been measuring smartphone app activity to be reported alongside print and website figures. It’s not clear how the figures will be reported – monthly as for newspapers, or six-monthly as for magazines, but what is abundantly clear is that mobile is now as important a measure of success as a print buyer or a website visitor.
No more complaining about coverage:
We’ve all complained about the difficulty of getting a good phone signal at times – and it’s often a lot easier to get decent reception in the middle of nowhere than in the centre of somewhere like London due to the huge demand for the network.
But we’re going to have to stop complaining after British mountain climber Kenton Cool used a 3G connection to make a call and send a tweet on the summit of Mount Everest. The first 3G station at the base camp of the mountain was installed in October, and Samsung sponsored Kenton to use a Samsung Galaxy S II at the top, after unboxing it at base camp.