An application or 'App' is seen by many as the third option to deliver a better mobile user experience to their audience (along with responsive design and a separate mobile specific site).
Over the last year or two there has been a flood of apps appearing for everything from content delivery to music instruments, building tools, games, weather apps, calculators, e-commerce and of course social media.
However much kudos you might get from saying you have one, apps can be challenging to produce so they should make sense for your particular business. If your market is going to be looking for your product while out in 'the real world' and/or you can make use of mobile devices core capability (such as GPS) to add value, then it might be worth it.
For example:
- Entertainment – think trailers, show times and reviews
- Recreation – rain forecasters, wind metres, tour and event schedules, ticket purchasing, locations and maps
- Travel – maps and schedules, organisers, location guides
- Sport – exercise monitors, food diaries and community building/social apps
- General business Apps – event timetables, financial management tools and calculators and of course shopping apps
Mobile Apps are harder to develop and test (than a website) due to the multitude of device manufacturers and the increasing number of operating systems – iOS, Android and Windows Mobile - all which have different technical specs and interfaces.
You could decide to develop an App just for the iPhone, but Android powered devices actually outnumber iPhones by 3 to 1. (source)
And Apps are costly to develop – think tens of thousands of dollars to start. This is why you have to think about whether you will get a return on this investment
Pros:
- If it solves a problem for your customer and leverages it's unique characteristics, it can encourage loyalty and drive revenue
- Being smaller and lighter, it can be faster than a responsive designed website (no extra code to load) – handy if bandwidth and speed are an issue
Cons:
- Can be a costly waste of time and resources if not relevant to your business or your customers needs
- Could alienate non-smart phone users if you get distracted from optimising your desktop experience
Thinking about it?
Think beyond gimmicky marketing Apps and ask yourself what is going to be useful for your customers.
Talk to a specialist App developer – preferably one that has expertise across platforms and can show you previous work that has been a success in a relevant (if not the same) industry