While Apps Are Hot, Mobile Web Is Hotter

While mobile applications are a hot item, with over 200,000 applications available, the audience for apps is still minuscule when compared to the mobile Web audience. The app market only accounts for around 17% of the mobile phone market, while the majority of mobile users have access to a web browser.

A recent Nielson report projects that smartphones won’t even saturate 50% of the market share until 2011. Mobile strategies for your company should thus include the mobile web, as it is still a viable way to reach your audience. Those users who can’t run apps on their handset can still access the web on that same handset.

There are pros and cons for both mobile web and mobile applications:

Mobile Web Pros and Cons

• Pros: Mobile phones and smartphones are supported. More economical than mobile apps.
  
• Cons: Unable to use advanced phone features such as camera, GPS; less functionality.
  

Mobile App Pros and Cons

• Pros: Support for native functions of the smartphone (GPS, camera, etc.)
  
• Cons: Additional developer time and costs to develop across multiple platforms
  

In the end, a mobile web presence can provide better value to your customers, whether they are mobile phone or smartphone users.