Last year we wrote about ‘the mobile future’. Well that future has become the present. As a business owner, what are your options for entering the ever-growing mobile market?

In the US, smartphones outnumber feature phones. In India, this year mobile web users will outnumber desktop web users.

Not only is the mobile market growing but it’s becoming more profitable. Google recently added in-app subscriptions to the Play Store, PayPal is taking mobile to the high street and banks are getting in on the act led by Barclays Pingit.

Fears of security have been swept aside as mobile users worldwide devour information & entertainment on the go.

The opportunities for marketing are huge. Last year the mobile market was estimated to be worth $25-50 billion by 2015, but as China’s app market is valued at $35 billion those early figures massively undersell the mobile market.

The Great Mobile Choice

Swiftly putting telesales & SMS marketing to one side, there are four ways to make your business mobile. Depending on the size of your business you may wish to pick one, go for all of them or a use a selection based on your business aims and potential mobile revenue.

Users can access content on their smartphone or tablet in two ways – via a browser or by downloading an app. You should be making sure that potential customers can access your content via one of these options:

• Browser – Websites (desktop, mobile & responsive) and Web Apps
• Application – Native Apps

So which one should you choose? Use our helpful guide to decide! Read the rest of "Mobile Site vs. Responsive Site vs. Native App vs. Web App"

Posted by Craig Charley in Mobile, News, Programming, Web Design on May 30th, 2012| 1 Comment »

Native Apps vs Web Apps…

Native apps on mobile platforms are a great way for developers to bring web content to mobile phones.

However, due to constant upgrades and fragmentation in the mobile hardware and software industry, to reach the widest possible audience a developer creating a native app for use on different mobiles would have to create separate apps for iOS, Android, Windows Phone 7, Blackberry and Symbian. This is a costly and lengthy process and not a long term solution as the operating systems are always changing.

You can dramatically save costs on using native app developers by taking our iPhone App Training Course which teaches delegates how to build iOS5 apps from scratch. We will shortly be adding courses for native apps on other mobile operating systems so keep your eyes peeled.

Google is championing web apps, with CEO Eric Schmidt claiming an unexpectedly high increase in mobile web traffic as people demand content instantly and on the move. So why exactly are many developers switching to web-apps in favour of native apps?

What is a Web App?

A native phone app has to be downloaded on to your device from an online store (like Apple’s App Store, or the Android App Market)

A web app is a website that can be accessed via your phone’s standard web browser that looks and behaves like a native app – but doesn’t have to be installed locally. HTML5 is making it easier for developers to make web apps that behave more like native apps. Read the rest of "Native Apps vs. Web Apps – The Rise of HTML5"

Posted by Craig Charley in Mobile, News, Programming, Web Design on September 1st, 2011| No Comments »