Warning: Division by zero in /home/content/72/2130472/html/tyfishcomblog/wp-content/themes/striking/framework/functions/common.php on line 336

Warning: imagecreatetruecolor() [function.imagecreatetruecolor]: Invalid image dimensions in /home/content/72/2130472/html/tyfishcomblog/wp-includes/media.php on line 1010

Warning: imagecopyresampled(): supplied argument is not a valid Image resource in /home/content/72/2130472/html/tyfishcomblog/wp-content/themes/striking/framework/functions/common.php on line 281

Warning: imagepng(): supplied argument is not a valid Image resource in /home/content/72/2130472/html/tyfishcomblog/wp-content/themes/striking/framework/functions/common.php on line 305

What use to be called the “virtual office” is now the mobile office. There are lots of reasons why it makes sense to have the ability to operate on the go and it appears that the Pros outweigh the Cons when it comes to working away from the office. Nonetheless, challenges will continue to exist as the corporate enterprise struggles to satisfy both user demands and expectations versus the need for corporate governance with respect to company data.

The era of the 9-to-5 job is over. Even just a few years ago, you were expected to commute to work, put in your hours and drive back home. Once you left work, it was done until you came back into the office the next way.

Thanks to laptops, smartphones, tablets and Wi-Fi, that has all changed. As long as you have an Internet connection, you can file reports, hold meetings, edit proposals and complete practically all of your work tasks remotely. As a result, telecommuting is on the rise, and more and more work is completed via our mobile devices.

Social contact manager Gist, acquired by RIM earlier this year, has analyzed some of the data about the rise of the mobile workforce, detailing where they prefer to work and the devices they use to do it. The infographic below provides a nice overview of this very important business trend.

Ask any interactive agency nowadays what their clients are asking for when they need a mobile experience — the answer will inevitably be “an iPhone and/or an iPad app.” Native Apple apps are a hot commodity, and in today’s mobile application ecosystem, mobile web apps are not sexy. In fact, many people don’t even realize they are even an option. In certain cases, an iPhone/iPad app will be the right solution for their needs.

However, there are some situations where it may become a short-term win, but eventually a long-term loss. Mobile web apps offer a good number of advantages over native apps; and though they face some design, development and deployment challenges, they are a powerful cross platform, scalable and affordable solution.

Increasing Fragmentation

Mobile apps are all the rage. There are a slew of startups targeting the iPad, countless entrepreneurs hacking together the next killer iPhone app, and it seems as though every big company has released an app of some sort. With the increasing penetration of Android phones, developers are scrambling to port their software.

But what about deploying to Windows Phone 7, Blackberry and Symbian? Who wants to study yet another SDK, learn another language, and go through yet another app submission process? Who will continue to keep the code up to date for all these platforms as each one splinters into new incarnations, releases new hardware and OS updates. Fragmentation is a costly long-term investment. And people are beginning to realize that native apps are not a sustainable long-term solution for all their needs.

GAP StyleMixer application for both iOS & Android

Old News

Desktop web apps are far from a new idea — Rich Internet apps have been around for a while. Google has been pushing in this direction for years, creating a broad suite of online tools, primarily for the desktop, with an increasing focus on mobile. However, web apps have been slow to gain traction in the mobile space. Even with Apple promoting mobile web apps as the next best thing on their 1st generation iPhone in 2007, the focus is still squarely on native apps. And the primary reason for this is due to the overwhelming success of Apple’s (native) App Store.

The App Store Model

Apple’s App Store was not the first to distribute native applications to mobile phones, but they proved it was a viable model, and launched the concept into popular culture. It’s this same model that would be necessary to make a mobile web app ecosystem successful.

Foursquare App in Google’s Android Market

As a consumer, it’s more appealing to go to one trusted online outlet for stuff than to waste time searching the web for the same thing, and putting yourself at risk of being hacked. Mobile web apps need a consolidated storefront for much the same reasons.

First, it’s easy to find apps when they are indexed, categorized, and searchable in one place. Second, a robust community of users exposing app popularity, contributing ratings and writing reviews makes it easier to evaluate your choices. Third, when I’ve decided to buy a game such as Plants and Zombies, I want to be sure my purchase will be a safe one — something a robust app store from a recognized company should offer. And since a web app is cross-platform, you could play it on your Android phone, your iPad, and your desktop — all with a single purchase. Buy once, use anywhere. It’s magic!

As a business or developer creating web apps, a centralized web app store provides benefits over doing it solo. Most importantly, it provides a source of monetization. This is the key to driving adoption of a web app ecosystem, as without revenue, businesses and developers will stick with money-making native apps. It’s also a marketing channel, allowing for easy discovery and promotion. Another potential benefit of using a web app storefront would be the APIs to help developers deal with authentication, licensing and other technical hurdles of digital distribution.

It’s Possible Now

A great majority of native apps could be deployed today as full featured mobile web apps. The HTML5 family of technologies allow for refined typography, animation, streaming video, offline storage, and the list goes on. Probably the most high profile web app to date is the Youtube mobile site, which delivers a comparable experience to the native apps they have built.

Youtube Mobile Web Experience

Real World Challenges

As with any innovation, there are big questions that need to be answered. The most obvious is the issue of cross-platform compatibility. Building a robust and rich cross-platform mobile web app experience would benefit from HTML5 technology support, but currently RIM and Microsoft’s mobile offerings use their own standards. This weakens the des/dev once, deploy anywhere story; but is by no means a dealbreaker. Web developers have long dealt with coding to accommodate troublesome browsers, and this would be a similar case.

Another challenge in the ‘deploy anywhere’ scenario arises when you look at how a given design translates across devices with varying resolutions, form factors and input methods. Application designers will need to approach this problem by targeting several key resolution/form factor combinations, similar to what is recommended by the Android SDK. Depending on what device an app is being run on, the design, layout and functionality may differ significantly. This can be solved using a combination of intelligent design and careful development.

Last but not least is the problem of providing consistent, quality user experiences in this new application space. We’ve seen how the Android’s app offerings often leave much to be desired in terms of visual design and usability while Apple has been more successful in defining quality experiences. Providing a set of best practices, design patterns, and components for designers would go a long way towards the creation of quality mobile web app experiences that would win over consumers. As mobile web apps gain credibility, we will see more offering such as Sencha Touch and Sproutcore that provide solid web development and experience frameworks.

The Inevitable Victory of the Web Browser

Web applications as ‘the next big idea’ might never happen — but in the coming years, more and more websites will have mobile incarnations that look a lot like applications. You’ll be swiping through articles, pinching photos, and flicking pests off your Farmville plot — all in your mobile browser. And people won’t even realize that in the end, the next generation mobile web won.

Warning: Division by zero in /home/content/72/2130472/html/tyfishcomblog/wp-content/themes/striking/framework/functions/common.php on line 336

Warning: imagecreatetruecolor() [function.imagecreatetruecolor]: Invalid image dimensions in /home/content/72/2130472/html/tyfishcomblog/wp-includes/media.php on line 1010

Warning: imagecopyresampled(): supplied argument is not a valid Image resource in /home/content/72/2130472/html/tyfishcomblog/wp-content/themes/striking/framework/functions/common.php on line 281

Warning: imagepng(): supplied argument is not a valid Image resource in /home/content/72/2130472/html/tyfishcomblog/wp-content/themes/striking/framework/functions/common.php on line 305

Warning: Division by zero in /home/content/72/2130472/html/tyfishcomblog/wp-content/themes/striking/framework/functions/common.php on line 336

Warning: imagecreatetruecolor() [function.imagecreatetruecolor]: Invalid image dimensions in /home/content/72/2130472/html/tyfishcomblog/wp-includes/media.php on line 1010

Warning: imagecopyresampled(): supplied argument is not a valid Image resource in /home/content/72/2130472/html/tyfishcomblog/wp-content/themes/striking/framework/functions/common.php on line 281

Warning: imagetruecolortopalette(): supplied argument is not a valid Image resource in /home/content/72/2130472/html/tyfishcomblog/wp-content/themes/striking/framework/functions/common.php on line 285

Warning: imagepng(): supplied argument is not a valid Image resource in /home/content/72/2130472/html/tyfishcomblog/wp-content/themes/striking/framework/functions/common.php on line 305

Mobile advertising company Millennial Media has released its latest Mobile Mix report for May, and while the Android OS appears to have reached a 15 percent market share as gauged by advertising requests, it doesn’t appear that developers are following a similar trend.

While Apple still controls the market share is still in the lead, it is falling.  (And just to be clear, that doesn’t mean iPhone sales are dropping, it just means as the total number of users out there grows, they are choosing other platforms, it is not an indication of sales per se)  As the next chart shows, developers are staying platform agnostic for the most part.

It seems odd with the mobile application landscape in such flux right now  that only ten percent of developers are working with multiple platforms.  While there is something to be said for honing your skills on just one platform, it seems odd with the numbers changing as they are that they would put all of their eggs in one proverbial basket.

According to PocketGamer, this is worrying Microsoft about future support for its upcoming Windows Mobile 7 OS.  Reportedly the company is offering upfront payments to iOS  developers to port their apps over to the new system so that they can hit the ground running, but due to differences in the frameworks used, the developers aren’t jumping at the offer.

The other potential issue I see is that despite how crowded the Apple App Store has become, it is still a lot easier for people to browse than the Android Marketplace.  Being an Android user myself, I know I don’t spend any more time in the Marketplace than I have to.  The lack of a computer interface like the iTunes one really hurts the shopping experience, and that may lead to lower sales, and in turn less interest in building for it.

It is clear that apps are what make or break a phone at this point, but the numbers aren’t lining up with one another.  Is the iOS really that much easier to develop for?  One has to wonder.