Being a W
eb development company located in Indianapolis, we
naturally receive a number of requests, whether it be from current clients or
new prospects, about developing a mobile app for them. As we do with every engagement, we
immediately ask, “why?” Yes, mobile apps
seem to be the hottest thing lately but just because there are some really cool
apps out there, doesn’t mean that you have a solid business case for developing
one.
Quite frankly, with as many mobile
smartphone users as there are today and the number expected to increase
significantly over the next couple of years, it makes sense that businesses
want to have a mobile presence and I would argue that every website nowadays should have some kind of mobile
presence. For mobile apps, just as for
standard websites, we at BitWise start out with the same variations of the questions,
“What are your business goals (or business case) and who are your audiences?” So, once we have established solid answers
to those questions, then what may be the criteria used for building a mobile
app?
More often than not, a
mobile website with scaled down graphics, an overview/intro page, contact
information that includes an active phone number (to initiate a call with the
push of a button), an active address (to enable mapping/directions), and
perhaps a simple contact form will accomplish what you need. However, when might a mobile app make more
business sense vs. a mobile website?
Here are some qualifiers that I would use to determine when a mobile app
makes sense:
- Need Functionality
While Disconnected from the Internet – there are instances when people may
still need to do various things when they don’t have access to the internet. For example, games, such as Angry Birds, one
wants to be able to play without necessarily being connected to the Internet. And from a business perspective, an example
may be that employees and customers may need an application that will allow
them to reference product information when they are disconnected from the
Internet.
- Location Based
Functionality – sometimes the goal requires the ability to locate the user
and interact with them based on that location.
The GPS
locator built into the mobile device cannot (easily) interact via the Internet
the way it can with a mobile application.
So, leveraging the GPS functionality of the mobile platform is another
reason to build a mobile application. For
example, a restaurant or other retail location may want to provide a “find the
nearest location” application bundled with other good information, such as
menus.
- Rich User Experience
– You can only do so much, practically, via a browser and a mobile Internet
connection. However, an app can take
advantage of the presentation and other functionality (such as the personal
nature of interacting with the app via touch) native to the mobile platform for
a much richer, faster, and sophisticated user experience.
a. Augmented Reality– As a subset of the rich user
experience, when the application requires use
of the users surroundings, a mobile app is the only way to
achieve a truly
augmented reality.
If the above criteria are met, then the only other caveat is
deciding what platform(s) to build on.
We are then back to the “who is your audience” question and a look at
your current website analytics data may give some clues as to which direction
to go.