Mobile web vs. native apps: It's not about technology, it's about psychology

Mobile web vs. native:It’s not about technology, it’s about psychology@brian_donohue

This debate has been around a while - sort of

Remember when Virgin used to be cool?

Execs just want an iPhone/Android apphttp://url.ie/a1wt

How many of them are just vanity apps?

There have been some strong opinions

“ Native apps are aremnant of the Jurassicperiod of computerhistory, a local maximumthat is holding us back.The combination of adiscovery service and just-in-time interaction is apowerful interaction modelthat native apps can’t beginto offer.”

It’s all about the “App Internet” Gilt CEO told him customers are moving from web to the app because it’s “faster, simpler, more immersive”

Apparently no one else in his company agrees

Be wary -- this stuff changes fast 2010: “(Website owners interested in developing an iPhone app might start by developing an iPhone- targeted website, where most of this book’s design principles also apply.)” 2011: “Platforms are risky places to put your business...If you can do it with the Web -- do it with the Web. It’s faster, cheaper, and easier.” Web app masters tour, 2011: http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?1281

And let’s not ignore the bigger context here 85 % Source: http://url.ie/evp2 of mobile phone users in the world use their phone for SMS. SMS is the primary use for mobile phone users around the world.

48 hours time it takes for the average email to be read after it’s sent 4 minutes time it takes for the average SMS to be read after it’s sentSource:http://url.ie/f18t

Coke’s 70:20:10 rule for mobile:• 70% to SMS and MMS• 20% mobile internet• 10% mobile apps

Of course -- what does Coke need an app for?

Data suggests it’s neck and neck47.6% of mobile Internet customers use nativemobile apps and 47.5% use the Web browser on theirdevices.

But it varies a lot

People are getting fed up with the debate

“While many people try to argue for oneside or the other, the truth is there aregreat reasons for doing both”

OK - so it’s not a zero sum gameBut we still have to choose an approach!

The logic that makes this seem obvious

Fragmentation

Going native is a policy of exclusion... http://url.ie/a1xc

supports 5 native mobile platforms“We could probably save 70% of ourdevelopment budget by switching to a single,cross-platform client Phil Lebin, CEO http://url.ie/a1xl supports 4 native mobile platforms“...all of these users on all these devices using Facebook mobile in the widerainbow of lovely different experiences across Android, iPhone, Windows, theWeb. That was great from a user perspective. What sucks? Theenvironment for my developers, essentially. You have the bad old days.You have four different platforms to build for something essentially. You want tobuild for all of those groups? You are going to have to build the sucker fourtimes. Dave Fetterman, Engineering Manager http://url.ie/dj68

Defining “native” vs. “mobile web” Objective C HTML, CSS, JS works best on webkit browsers Java C ++

Different platforms usually meansdifferent people Java Objective C

Native isn’t always better Native app only Both Web app only  Gyroscope and  Store data offline  Much easier to test, Accelerometer  Access GPS prototype, and rollout  Accessing filesystems  Have app-like UI and  Can update (e.g. address book, transitions immediately (no app photos) store approval),  Accessible as app  Fully-immersive customers don’t have from home screen experience (e.g. to update the app gaming)  HTML 5 is continually  Support in-app adding hardware purchases capabilities (Apple takes 30% cut)  Camera  Smoother and more responsive

Who’s going with HTML 5?

The magic bullet?

So is this an easy one?

So let’s look at these criteria a little closer1. Your app needs to use the hardware

Native app only Both Web app only Gyroscope and  Store data offline  Much easier to test, Accelerometer  Access GPS prototype, and rollout Accessing filesystems  Have app-like UI and  Can update (e.g. address book, transitions immediately (no app photos) store approval),  Accessible as app Fully-immersive customers don’t have from home screen experience (e.g. to update the app gaming)  Can link to the app  ??Findability?? (e.g. SMS with link to Support in-app purchases your bill) (Apple takes 30% cut)  HTML 5 is continually Camera adding hardware capabilities Smoother and more responsive

This was reason we went native with Tayto

Gmail launched their native app in November

It didn’t go down so well amongst technorati

Panned in the reviews as well

Lesson: app expectations are VERY HIGH

2. Frequency of use

Apps that people use the most - the habit forming ones

“As this data shows, while smart phone clients areimportant, there are even more people who use themobile Twitter web site and/or SMS."

Out of 425 million mobile users:

Just because you hope peoplewill use your app frequently, that doesn’tnecessarily mean they need a native app

3. Damn those links

Do you send out emails or SMSs? Cries out for links to their mobile app (if they had one)

The big disconnect

4. The experience is just better

It’s about theanimations,the speed,the feel, theexperienceof the wholething

A billion shared “moments”Path Instagram

What about their desktop experience?

Clear app/ The new cool?

Oooh, I can do that in HTML 5 http://clear.youyuxi.com/

Well, sorta / But not for any other phones

You can actually do a lot of this with HTML5 “The Web app and native experiences are very similar. We had set out to mimic the native app and make the transition to the Web app seamless. Although it was tricky to achieve precisely the same quality (e.g., access to apis), we quickly got very close (say, 80-90% the same user experience). We have since stopped development of the native app and are aggressively developing the HTML5 version.” http://url.ie/ew19

But to (nearly) replicate the UI, you’re basically writingcode totally tailored to one device. It’s like a nativeapp, it’s just a different language.And the experience will never be quite as good.

“It doesn’t feel like a real app”

Lesson:If the experience is part of yourdifferentiator, you gotta make it native

5. Findability

Maybe this will take off?

The cold reality:We still live in an app culture

http://tripleodeon.com/2011/09/of-sites-and-apps/

People expect you to have an app

Average iOS device owner downloads this many apps in a year83 apps in 2011 51 apps in 2010Source: http://url.ie/f1sk

But hold on a second...

What that looks like

Are you going to be a top 10 app?

To download is not to keep, or use iOS and Android users

The disposable app culture:Download it,use it once,forget about it,bin it

Why isn’t there a parallel debateabout whether to build for theMac App store or the desktop browser?

Our app culture isn’t all that logical. Why isn’t there a parallel debate(What culture is?)to build for the about whether Mac App store or the desktop browser?

You need to be brave to tell your bossthat our customers won’t be able todownload our app from the app store.

Will we see our app culture disappear? Brent Simmons - creator of NetNewsWire http://url.ie/f35r

The app culture:Download it,use it once,forget about it,bin it

So....There are loads of reasons to go with the web • Cost/effort • Reach • Links • Complete control

But..There are good reasons to go native: • When you have to use the hardware • When UX needs to be a differentiator • When you won’t get found unless you’re in the app store • (Many of us) live in app culture, albeit a disposable one

Be realistic,be brave,don’t go native unless youknow you really need to

Thanks for listening!iQ Content Ltd, Clarendon House, 34-37 Clarendon Street, Dublin 2, Ireland. +353 (0)1 677 1140

Mobile web vs. native apps: It's not about technology, it's about psychology

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