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13

FEB

Mobile Web to replace Apps

13 FEB 2012 | Posted in apps, HTML5, internet, mobile, website | Author Alex McLachlan | 2 Comments

Further to my previous post "Mobile web, mobile apps and mobile commerce", web usability expert Jakob Nielsen predicts today that mobile web will become preferred over apps in the long term.

Currently, developing apps for different mobile platforms provides the best user experience if you can afford it (ie if the expected return justifies the expense). In contrast, web content formatted for mobile devices is currently the cheaper approach, but often doesn't provide the richness of user interface that apps do. The increasing use of mobile phones and tablets is leading to more companies reaching the point where investing in apps becomes worthwhile.

Jakob Nielsen points to a number of trends that will move the balance in favour of mobile web, including HTML5, better mobile bandwidth and the increasing fragmentation of mobile operating systems leading to increasing development costs for apps.

These are the issues that over time will tip the balance for most organisations.

The key question he can't provide an answer for is when these trends will result in apps being abandoned in favour of mobile web. This is partly because of the difficulty of being able to predict the take-up of new technologies. The other element is that the decision will depend on the individual circumstances of different organisations making investment decisions.