Native App Development vs. HTML 5 Apps: A Dependable Answer

Going mobile is no longer a choice, but a necessity if you want to survive this competitive environment created by your brands. What type of mobile presence would you like to have is something that you need to decide before taking the plunge. You can take the app route, or have a simple responsive site that opens to a similar experience across the different devices. What will help you best depends on what you need from the mobile presence, and how it will help fulfill your business goals.

With mobile presence, you would be catering to about 4.5 Mn global users who own a smartphone and browse internet on it. Statistics claim that 29% of the online searches globally are being done using a mobile. Around 2014 it was noted that $400 Bn worth of sales was achieved in United States alone, and the numbers are going to increase soon enough. Most people tend to spend more time on mobile phones as compared to desktops, which is why it is important to establish a presence that will help improve conversions and profitability.

You are sure of your mobile presence. Now you need to concentrate on how you want to drive that mobile presence. Do you want a mobile app or a native app or a mobile website? Let’s have a look at all three options individually, and see which works best for you.

Native App Development

The apps that are written in the native languages i.e. iOs, Android etc. are known as native apps. These apps are downloaded from the respective play store. You don’t always need internet to access the information in these apps. The UX design is pretty friendly from user’s perspective.

You don’t always need internet to access the information in these apps. The UX design is pretty friendly from user’s perspective.

It is expensive and requires understanding of the native language to develop rich user-friendly apps. You also need to process your app through the app store before it is good to download.

Which should you opt for depends highly on what you aim to achieve from your mobile presence. It also depends on the budget, target audience and their media consumption habits. Do a thorough research before deciding on a particular route to go mobile.

HTML 5 Apps Development

Mobile web apps appear similar to native apps, and can be easily developed using HTML or CSS. Mobile web apps are not just a feasible alternative route but also one of the inexpensive routes to mobile presence.

One of the advantages of mobile web app is that it can be quickly developed, and looks and feels like a native app. It is rendered through a different browser, and you can easily edit & update the mobile web app.

Mobile web apps can be accessed only if the network connection is stable and secure. It works as a disadvantage towards building mobile web apps. If you are a business with a mobile website, then mobile web app should be your choice. It can be developed easily with minimum coding requirement.

Mobile Website

Let’s begin by understanding more about mobile website. A mobile website is similar to any other website. With the browser based HTML pages, you can easily access a website on a handheld device or any other smart device. It is basically customized in terms of size, width and resolution to suit the needs of a handheld device. Most businesses tend to use a responsive site which can be resized to match the size needs of a device. It is one of the best and easiest option to create a mobile presence. Here, we will discuss the three different approaches taken to build a mobile website in brief to understand how it works.

• You can build a separate mobile website that has a URL of its own. Whenever the website is accessed from the mobile, the users will be redirected to this URL
• Another option is to use CSS files such that the desktop URL is made available to the mobile users
• Finally, you can use a responsive website design which adapts to the different screens. It offers the same experience across devices

You know how a mobile website can be created; let’s understand the pros and cons associated with a mobile website.

It is the easiest way of getting a mobile presence. You can easily modify your desktop website to offer a good mobile presence. With just a few extra resources, you can make your brand accessible. It helps give out an optimized mobile presence, which helps further your visibility and reach.

Your mobile website uses networks to provide accessibility, which makes speed and performance a constraint. You will need to put in extra efforts to optimize the performance of your site on the phone. If you are looking for a quick fix solution to provide accessibility on mobile devices, you can use this option.