Many businesses and organizations have websites. However, the popularity and development of mobile devices have forced the enterprises to develop mobile strategies for their websites. The time is now for the organizations which have not made decisions about mobile web presence.
Many managers are considering a complete change of their organizations’ websites or having a mobile app developed. However, there are numerous decisions to make before coming up with a final decision.
There are numerous benefits and shortcomings of the choice you make. Your circumstances and the organization play a big role in selecting the options which suit you.
There are several considerations which should be evaluated before a decision which improves user interaction is made.
Criteria for considerations
The dilemma which many managers face is whether to optimize their website to enable mobile viewing or start an app development process. The basic principles to be considered before any decision is made include costs, design approach, implementation timeframe, performance, user experience and regular maintenance.
This article, however, discusses the differences of app development and web development.
Rankings to ratings
Many web developers generally focus on improving the rankings of the websites they develop. On the other hand, app developers focus on the ratings. So, many managers have the challenge of releasing the best product as the app ratings normally accumulate as time goes by.
404’s to app crashes
Instead of counting the 404’s, you start dealing with app crashes. App crashes are more critical compared to 404’s. This can be resolved through solving compatibility issues, fixing bugs, upgrading an app or OS version.
Minimal user context to lot of contexts
Mobile web and mobile app have very different advantages which come from the power of the devices they are connected to and the rich context they enable. For example, Uber drivers rely on the power of GPS to reach their customers without asking for any directions.
The additional context enables mobile apps to deliver exceptional user experience and value proposition.
Uptime and availability to always on
Mobile apps are always on so there is no need to worry about uptime or downtime. However, for the apps to remain on, they rely on the background services. The availability of the background services plays a very critical role to ensure that the app remains on even though the concept of availability of an app is gone.
Page size to app size
Web developers focus on optimizing the page size not the size of the application. On the other hand, apps developers focus mainly on the scale of the app, loading or startup time and the memory footprint.
Compatibility
This is another factor which makes app development and testing more considerate and intricate. This causes a lot of challenges, especially in the Android platform since there is a wide range of devices using the platform, different OS versions, and EOM variants.
App developers must factor all this before they commence the development process. Factoring in all these factors is very challenging and consumes a lot of time.
Running one version to multiple versions simultaneously
In web development, you are primarily required to run one version of it outside of SaaS. In app development, developers are expected to develop multiple app versions which depend on the time the user downloads the app.
Sometimes, app developers are forced to do force upgrades, but these upgrades cannot be done every time a new version is released. Forcing update sometimes discourages users as no user wants to download an app on a regular basis.
Developers who use force upgrades normally create multiple app versions. They are supposed to ensure that the background services and features can be supported by the earlier versions of the app.
