Mobile that works for your library

Mobile that works for your library
Jeff Wisniewski
Web Services Librarian
University of Pittsburgh
facebook.com/wisniewski.jeff

Why go mobile?

State of the union

Development
User needs
Functional and content specs
Interaction design/IA
Testing
Visual design
Development
Testing
Done

Dimensions
Ease of development
Usability and UX
Ease of testing
Ease of deployment
Ease of measurement
Ease of updating

Options
Native app
Mobile web
Hybrids

Native app
Lives on the device
Downloaded to the device
Built specifically for that device/platform
Built using some programming language and SDK

Native app
Companies Must Have An iPhone App or They “Don’t Exist”
-Walker Fenton, GM of NewsGator’s Media & Consumer Products

Native app programming languages
Java
Objective C

Mobile web
Lives on a webserver
Accessed by a device
Browser as software interface

Mobile web languages
HTML, HTML5
CSS
JavaScript

Hybrids
Generally use languages familiar to web developers
HTML
CSS
JavaScript
Installed like a native app

Hybrids
phonegap
Appcelerator Titanium
rhomobile
MotherApp
boopsie
netbiscuits

Ease of development
Native apps require coding in non-web languages
Mobile web uses HTML, CSS, JavaScript
Hybrids often use web languages

Usability and ux
Subjective
Apps rated more favorably than mobile web
speed/latency
click investment
usability highly influenced by browser

Usability and ux
Objective:
“App users…suffered much less misery than users in our mobile website tests (Nielsen)”
platform optimized
strong guidelines and conventions

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/consumers_find_mobile_web_disappointing_slow_to_load.php#more (2009)

Ease of testing
Test paper prototypes
Mobile web site easiest to test
Accessible everywhere
Desktop, simulators, emulators
Native apps
Tested in SDK
Install to test, refine, reinstall, repeat
Hybrids..test in cloud

Ease of deployment
Native apps deployed via mediated process
Hybrid either via direct download or via app store
Mobile web instantly deployed

The curious case of Google Voice
June 2009 Google Voice app submitted to Apple
July 2009 app rejected
January 2010 Google Voice via mobile web launched

Ease of measurement
Apps require special analytics tools
Mobile web can leverage existing web metric tools

Track activity in your mobile apps(Android and iOS only)
http://code.google.com/mobile/analytics/

Ease of updating
Native app: cyclical
Hybrid app: depends
Mobile web: instantaneous

Native apps: the good
Responsive
Persistent
Automatically “bookmarked”
Built-in marketing via app stores (caveats apply)
Instant one-click access
COOL

Native apps
Level of commitment ….but more “casual dating” than “till death do us part”

35% of adults have cell phones with apps, but only two-thirds of those who have apps actually use them
-http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/The-Rise-of-Apps-Culture/Overview.aspx

Native apps: the bad
Fragmentation
Walled gardens…often don’t play with other services
The best tend to be single function…are we single function?
Gmail app, Maps app, Google Navigation app

My dad got a Sprint EVO 4G last weekend and texted me asking why Pandora, which he was excited about downloading, needed access to his contact information (when you download an Android app you get a nice little list of things the application has access to on the phone). I told him I didn’t know, and he subsequently decided he didn’t want to download it.
-Stacey Higginbotham, GigaOM

Native app got game
Performance
Offline use
Deep integration required…GPS, camera, etc.
Monetization

Why mobile web?
No child left behind
Findability via mobile search (can submit to google)
No approval process
Familiar technologies…HTML5, CSS, JavaScript
Integration between desktop and mobile
Fennec

Why not mobile web?
“If you don’t have an app you don’t exist”
19 flavors +- of WebKit
How many clicks?
Not persistent

Why a hybrid?
Develop with familiar technologies
Persistence of a native app
Al Gore told me to

Why not a hybrid?
Still platform dependent

Platform proliferation
Today: iPhone, Android, Blackberry, iPad?
Tomorrow: WebOS, Windows Phone 7, Android tablets, Blackberry tablet(s), Windows tablets…..??

Cool tools…code free
Hidden peanuts MSG http://www.hiddenpeanuts.com/msg
Widgetbox mobile http://www.widgetbox.com/mobile/

Questions & discussion?
Kthxbai


Mobile that works for your library

by Jeff Wisniewski on Oct 29, 2010

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Mobile that works for your library — Presentation Transcript