What’s the future? Native apps or mobile web apps?
by erik on May 2, 2011
This question has popped up a lot the last few months, most definitely a hot potato and a discussion not very likely to go away anytime soon. We do have our ideas of where this all is going but of course there’s no right answer and as Brian Fling recently said:
Be skeptical about anyone who claims to have the answers to mobile
Nevertheless, I’d like to take a shot at this and hopefully explain a bit how we stand on this issue as of May 2011 (We all know that May 2012 will be a whole different story altogether…)
In May 2011 native apps makes a lot of sense when:
- You are an indie-developer looking for an easy and solid sales channel to monetize your app
- Your app needs high graphics performance for blazing fast games
- Your app is absolutely dependent on native funcionality such as the camera, accelerometer, bluetooth etc
- Your app is absolutely dependent on running in the background and sending notifications
- Your app is completely dependent on access to the contact book
- Your app is completely dependent on video and audio playback
That’s about it really.
In my opinion in all other cases a so called HTML5 app (or mobile web app) is completely justified. At this moment open source technologies are playing catch-up to the two year lead of the Apple and the App Store (let’s be frank, Android Marketplace is not completely “there” yet, and the quality will never be as high as on the App Store) and all the great apps so far developed using Objective-C but to me…..
…in May 2011 mobile web apps makes a lot of sense when:
- Your app is none of the above
Yes, Really. Of course that is not going to happen today. Having an app on the App Store is todays equivalent to what having a flash splash page was back in 1999 (well, not really but you understand what I mean…).
As of today, apps seems to more about emotions and “me too” thinking than strategic decisions. Companies WANT their app on the App Store because their competitors have one, even though it might have been smarter opting for a mobile web app and launching a good old SEO campaign so that their customers actually can find their app.
The great thing though is that you can actually have both. Using native wrappers you can (well, it’s just a small matter of programming…) deploy to multiple App Stores based on the same code base. That’s how we work, because we think that, in the end, this is all about the web and the web is not going away anytime soon even though others are trying to say otherwise.
Here’s where a lot of developers (and UX peeps) furiously proclaim that “a mobile web app can never achieve the same flow as a native app”. And that’s true. But you know what? My dad doesn’t care about the deceleration of a scroll and neither does yours. Not mentioning the “native experience” of my brother’s ZTE!
Why I really believe the mobile web ultimately will prevail
Simple really. People are already familiar to using web-based software on their PCs so using a mobile web app is not that much of a stretch. Hell, even my mom prefers Gmail to Mail.app on her iPad 2.
The hegenomy of Windows was/is based on native apps right? Can you name one great application the last 10 years that wasn’t a web app or a game?
27 comments
>> Can you name one great application the last 10 years that wasn’t a web app or a game?
Google Earth
by leo on %A %B %e%q, %Y at %I:%M %p. #
- Photo/Video editing/viewing softwares
- All office applications are still easier to use on the desktop (word, excel, power point…)
- CD/DVD burning software
- Most mobile phone still fail to provide full synchronisation even by wifi… Don’t count using the net.
An hardrive (???). Yes it is not a software but couple with native file browser it allow to manage all your files.
But really what do people do today on computers ? They browse the web, they take photos, video. They download (mostly illegal) photo/video/music and store this on their hardrive or burn it on DVD. They listen to music, see movies… They do write documents for their company, for the school… just for their CV.
Natives apps are still here and more prevalent than one can think. Because when you really need productivity, a native app is more effective than a web site.
by Nicolas on %A %B %e%q, %Y at %I:%M %p. #
Nice try but I think your analysis is way too superficial.
Just a couple of app names people have installed a LOT on their desktops, which quickly come to mind.
-Skype
-Evernote
-Limewire/Kazaa/eMule (or any other)
-Instant messenger (or any other)
- iTunes (or any other player or media manager)
by Rodrigo Mazzilli on %A %B %e%q, %Y at %I:%M %p. #
Thanks for commenting, those are almost all P2P applications which I believe is more about the tech than the actual app, IM is from the 90s . Nevertheless, the point I was trying to make was that in 2011 innovation is happening in the browser. Wouldn’t you agree with that?
by erik on %A %B %e%q, %Y at %I:%M %p. #
Most users of P2P software don’t actually care that much about the underlying tech as they care about the app letting them share messages/files/… – the easier the better.
by rudie on %A %B %e%q, %Y at %I:%M %p. #
I am inclined to believe that the mobile development platform will be the clear winner in total numbers, but to try and read the tea leaves is insanity.
It’s easy to sit around, and debate mobile, or native, but in reality the debate will be moot if everyone, on both sides of the debate just make good apps.
Use phonegap, go straight up mobile web. But, if you are trying to help clients make money, don’t let zealotry get in the way of the practicality of the apps stores.
by Alex Kessinger on %A %B %e%q, %Y at %I:%M %p. #
good point. pretty much sums it up in my opinion as well (including the android part). even though you are using your family’s anecdotal usage patterns as a basis for much of your assertion almost anything goes in the land of UX. an example of that is HUDs and menus in video games, a far cry from the windows and buttons of a desktop or web app but most people can still figure it out. i don’t think UX has as much to do with familiarity as it does with “stickiness” of how to do something.
by joe graham on %A %B %e%q, %Y at %I:%M %p. #
Good point, UX people shouldn’t be obsessed with mimicking iOS behavior and focus on creating a great experience
by erik on %A %B %e%q, %Y at %I:%M %p. #
I also believe web apps will ultimately win out simply due to market dynamics. Web standards the turtle that beats the hare because of the cross-platform development issue. For everyone except the market leader, a cross-platform standard is beneficial. The market leader in this case has to make a choice. Do like Microsoft did in the early aughts and attempt to use marketshare to stall the progress of standards (which may work for a while but leaves you with a substandard product), or do like Apple and embrace standards and simply focus on keeping the native APIs one step ahead. Either way, standards march inexorably forward, and as long as there is more than one major smartphone player, web will only get stronger.
by Gabe da Silveira on %A %B %e%q, %Y at %I:%M %p. #
Yes, that’s the strategy tax. A strategy tax applies to one product of a company that becomes worse in order to help another product in their product range. John Siracusa argues that Apple is in this situation right now.
by erik on %A %B %e%q, %Y at %I:%M %p. #
I guess you forgot one case: The need of being online.
All applications may make sense in HTML5 if they need to be online. If not, then we maybe need a local web server or read the HTML5 files from local disk. Web naturally calls for connection to internet.
This may not change what was said, or it may add another criteria to look for native apps.
by William Martinez Pomares on %A %B %e%q, %Y at %I:%M %p. #
WebKit has a local db which at default is at 5MB but is extendable to 50MB so that’s not an issue.
Regarding online, we work in Sweden and Spain and connectivity isn’t really an issue, there’s more or less always a signal. But if that isn’t enough, that’s another reason as to go with a native solution.
by erik on %A %B %e%q, %Y at %I:%M %p. #
eclipse? that one is great.
he he
by zé on %A %B %e%q, %Y at %I:%M %p. #
Your missing the point! It comes down to three things – audience, audience and audience!
As long as people keep coming, they will build for it.
Would your Ma ever google “best email client for iphone”? Or “new iphone game”? Nope. She’ll scroll up and down the app store, and pick one.
I’m not saying I don’t think mobile should prevail, I just think (as you do) experience, cost of build or anything but audience will tilt the status quo.
by Geoff Wright on %A %B %e%q, %Y at %I:%M %p. #
That’s my point really, cost of build will tilt towards mobile web apps. With entreprises already heavily invested in the web it only makes sense to continue.
by erik on %A %B %e%q, %Y at %I:%M %p. #
Great article. In my company, we are working to simplify mobile web with http://bkrender.com and we think that mobile future is web and hybrid applications.
by Mickaël Maisonobe on %A %B %e%q, %Y at %I:%M %p. #
Native app have a great advantage, they are fast and provide directly a feature a user want.
Did you ever tryed to surf with an Iphone or an Android phone ? Even with 3G, it is slow, the thing you do in a few second on your computer require minutes to be done with a phone browser.
The app form factor allow to only use the connection when really needed (good when your on 3G), and the whole app store thing allow for easy install and shortcut.
But the thing is, even if i’am on 3G, my laptop display a page in a second wheras my phone need 2-10 seconds.
I understand that with a mobile app, thoses problem should half dispear (as you simply embed less content and data inside it). But still, i have to use this touch screen to enter the URL, I have to manually add a shortcut on my desktop, I have first to search on google or equivalent to find your app.
We will able to say that web app have won the day all facebook users will prefer to use the web browser than the native app.
Me is using my phone as a phone and MP3 player anytime. Me using it as a computer (Apps, browsing…) only when i have no choice anyway.
by Nicolas on %A %B %e%q, %Y at %I:%M %p. #
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I’ve seen several app-store like web-app directories like apple’s web-app store and webappvault.com getjar.com etc
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But with native apps the page does not need to load up for each new page like the web based ones do. To me this just makes the native app seem more fluid and quicker…
unless is there a way to top that? As thats the main thing that stops me from looking at web apps vs native apps.
by Ashley on %A %B %e%q, %Y at %I:%M %p. #
Modernly written web-app’s does not need to load every page like the the traditional one-request – one-response web apps used to do. Try the GMail app to see. You can even have smooth animated effects with screen changes, see for example the Sencha Touch “kitchensink” demos for some very impressive examples. Or the GitHub source browser, to take another example. Correct use of the HTML5 history API will ensure that the back button keeps working (Sencha doesn’t seem to have implemented this yeet, GitHub have).
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It is a good discussion.
I agree that web apps are going to prevail. One reason I think it is the case is because Amazon’s new Web Browser which promises a load balance between the client and the server. In other words, the heavy work would be done the back-end , and your web browser will just be very thin! this means you can run almost any huge business applications, cash it and service it to clients. so , why not run all your office applications like native from your browser , or run a graphics intensive , or video editing app from your ipad without a native app!
by Sayed on %A %B %e%q, %Y at %I:%M %p. #
A point usually stated: Platform compatibility, or “most businesses can’t afford to make and mantain three (or more) native apps”. Most businesses can’t afford to make and maintain a good quality online store either, not one that can compete with a store like Amazon.
This is one of the reasons why most small book sellers sell now through Amazon or eBay. What then, if the amazon model for books is followed by other sectors and other providers? What if we have some big players that sold 90% of the products or services for one niche and some other smaller indi businesses? It is one thing to say that you don’t like that possibility and a different one to say that it is not viable, I really think it is.
And a final point: Native app development is seeing as a dirty tricky thing by web developers (I am one, but also learning C now), but it isn’t that complicated if you are already a C (or obj-c) or Java developer, in fact it is pretty easy and fast, and there are millions of C and Java developers out there. They can finnish an app in around the same time that we take to make it as a web app with its native wrapper, and most of the time it will be a more robust app.
by AJ on %A %B %e%q, %Y at %I:%M %p. #
I don’t think the whole HTML5/JavaScript/CSS allowing write once is realistic. Different devices have different capabilities, screen sizes etc. You have to target the the OS and even device. You can’t even be sure when writing web apps the user experience will be the same on all browsers let alone all browsers on all devices…
I really like what MS are doing with Win8 and WinRT- a single OS that will run on all devices – smart client/connected services – I think this approach is the future – not HTML5/JavaScript/CSS. When they introduce the Win 8 app store, this is going to open up a lot of Users to applications that can be written very quickly using excellent tools that create a high quality user experience. Won’t run on iPad/iPhone you say? – I don’t care. As soon as I can have this unified enviroment running on the PC, Tablet and phone I’m ditching my Apple devices…
by Andrew on %A %B %e%q, %Y at %I:%M %p. #