Mobile Design & Development

Question: Do most of your customers have a mobile phone?

There is little disputing that we are now in an era where the question, "Do we need a mobile version of our website?" is moot (and borderline ridiculous). Research from Google and the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) conducted during the first half of 2011 found Internet usage via mobile is quickly becoming as important as Internet usage via PC among those who own smartphones. The survey found that 58% of smartphone owners in the US had used their phones to go online every day during the week, vs. 78 percent who said the same of their PCs.

Mobile websites

You should very much care about controlling how your brand appears on a mobile device. And here’s the most important consideration: A mobile version of your website plays a different role in communicating to your customers and prospects than your standard traditional website. So, it’s not just a matter of “mobilizing” or simply shrinking your existing site to fit a mobile device. The mobile version of your site needs to appeal to the mobile user, who behaves differently than when that same user is perusing your site from a desktop or laptop computer.

We understand modern mobility. We’ll work with you to prioritize information and content from your existing site and then design a mobile website--one that takes advantage of the limited screen real estate, and one that will appeal to your customers and prospects. The process is painless and we can usually have a mobile website live in less than three weeks—from start to finish.

Mobile web apps

It’s important to understand the distinction between a mobile website and a mobile web app. A mobile website as discussed above, is a version of your traditional website that has been optimized to be accessed on a mobile device. A mobile web app, on the other hand, is something more functional. It may be some functionality that you would offer your customers or your own employees separate from your website. It's most likely functionality that you or your clients would use often--something that would make sense to be accessible via an icon on a smartphone home screen.

Native apps: a costly endeavor

Until very recently, launching a mobile app required a tremendous amount of time, cost, and effort. The fragmented and ever changing mobile marketplace caused the price to develop and deploy a mobile app to be out of the reach of most small and medium sized businesses. Consider, for example that developers began creating iOS (iPhone and iPad) compatible apps. That same software then had to be modified for Blackberry devices.  Then came Android devices. Developers then scrambled to port their software to be Android compatible. Then came the Windows Phone 7. What's next? Where does it end? Each new operating system means yet another SDK, another language, and another app submission process. This type of market fragmentation is a costly long-term investment. The bottom line is this: Native apps are not sustainable over the long term--unless you are prepared to spend a lot of dollars.

Mobile Web Apps: a lower cost alternative

Thankfully, there is an alternative. While a native app is specifically designed to run on a device’s operating system and machine firmware, and needs to be adapted for different devices, a mobile web app is capable of being accessed from all mobile devices. Recent rapid advances in HTML5 has allowed it and related technologies to be leveraged for the mobile landscape. These technologies allow for refined typography, animation, streaming video, offline data storage, offline access, geo-location, integration with social media and more. The result? A mobile app that offers the same user experience as a native app, works on all devices and is immediately available to you and your customers without the need for app store distribution. All at a much lower cost than a comparable native app. It's a definite win-win for everyone. And mobile web apps are not just for the cost conscious small business. Indeed, even companies such as Google and YouTube have utilized the power of mobile web apps.

We'd love the opportunity to sit down with you to discuss whether a mobile web app makes sense for your business.

White Paper: Native or Mobile Web App: An unbiased report (PDF)