A mobile solution is not about the right answer, it’s about the right answer for you. You need to understand the tradeoffs involved in deciding how you’re going to go about creating a mobile solution. Case in point: what’s your development platform?
It’s easy to say “we need to develop an app” (aka ‘there’s an app for that’). And there are reasons to develop an app, such as speed and elegance.
You could also say: “we’ll do mobile web”. Again, there are reasons to go this way, too: it’ll work on more devices.
But there are tradeoffs. Apps can be expensive. Mobile web may be slow and clunky on any particular device. You can’t just choose one without determining your needs: who’s the audience, what are they trying to do, what do you control, and what’s a given.
You should also be aware of a middle ground, so called hybrid apps. They minimize some of the extremes of both, though they’re no panacea either. You have to know the space, and your own context, to make an informed decision.
Triggered by an apparent knee-jerk reaction.
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