As a developer there is always the age old argument of do you provide a mobile friendly Website solution or a full blown “app” for your clients. As a business owner you have probably pondered the same thing, so before you jump in the deep end and consider an app because the big corporate down the road has one, consider this:
1.) What is my budget?
2.) Should I also get the Website done at the same time?
Even if you have a massive budget, there is always something to spend marketing money on.
Let’s face it, it would be very cool to have your own mobile app for Android, iPhone, Windows Phone and Blackberry wouldn’t it? But this would require at least 4 apps to build, each with their own development environments and toolkits to do so. Starting to sound a little pricey? You would be right. A developer could cut the cost by using third party tools that share the same code base, but these tools generally get out of date with the native operating system of the phone and are very sluggish. And what about your Website? Do you leave that for now and focus on the app?
The easy answer for most of you considering this is, make sure your Website is mobile friendly and makes use of the powerful features in today’s modern browsers to provide a seamless mobile experience. Most of the time the code base is the same as your Website and it also means you can point your clients to one place knowing that regardless of what they view it on, it looks great.
Computers, tablets and phones are not that different to each other and they each have a range of Internet browsers to choose from and all offer the same “Web” experience for users. So before you throw all your money into multiple apps and for all the different phones and tablets out there, consider giving your current Website a little TLC and make it mobile friendly. Get a free content managed Website or online shop to make it even easier.