The mobile Web vs. apps debate: Part 1, the case for the mobile Web

Julian Philips, VP of Product Management and Product Marketing

LOS ANGELES, CA July 4, 2011 – The debate over whether brands should focus on the mobile Web or applications has been raging for some time, but in reality, it is not an either/or proposition—with smartphone adoption booming, brands need both.

All businesses that have the resources should develop a both a robust mobile Web site and native applications for all of the major operating systems, because each has its advantages.

Here, I will discuss the benefits of having a mobile-optimized Web site—and the danger of not having one.

First of all, a mobile Web site has wide reach. It is not only accessible by all smartphones, but many feature phones as well. A mobile Web site can feature device detection, where it adjusts on the fly to each user’s particular handset.

The mobile Web comes closest to brands’ goal of write-once-run-everywhere.

Another issue in the mobile Web’s favor is discoverability. The increasing prevalence of mobile search makes it imperative for companies to have a mobile Web presence. Consumers are searching for businesses on their mobile devices whether or not those businesses have a mobile-optimized Web site. Those that do not provide a good experience on the mobile Web will lose out to competitors that do.

Mobile Web sites are searchable across all mobile search engines using any Web-enabled handset. That drives traffic organically, and paid mobile search campaign are effective at driving even more traffic to mobile-optimized Web pages.

Having a mobile Web site is also important for mobile display advertising campaigns. While mobile ad units are becoming more sophisticated, with video and rich media on the rise, the most basic banner ad campaigns drive users to a landing page or microsite, which must be mobile-optimized. Sending a mobile user to a Flash-based or PC-focused site would be disastrous for the campaign results.

An executive of restaurant reservation service OpenTable said that companies should forget about apps until they work on a mobile site. He said that when developing a mobile site, companies should include the basics such as an about us section, directions to bricks-and-mortar locations and a contact us tab, as reported by Mobile Commerce Daily http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/2011/04/14/10pc-of-reservation-bookings-come-from-mobile-opentable-exec.

Gartner found several major advantages mobile Web sites: the fact that they can address a large audience across various platforms, they are cost-effective to create, and changes can be made to them easily on the fly.

All in all, as mobile Web browsing and mobile search continue to explode, having a top-notch mobile Web site is a must for brands of all kinds.

Native apps, mobile Web sites and hybrids between the two will continue to coexist in the near future, although there will be a long-term shift toward the mobile Web, according to Gartner.

The research firm notes that modern Web technologies such as HTML5 will increase the range and richness of the mobile Web, but will not replace native applications.