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I am building a content website and want to know where to prioritize an iPad/iPhone app
My website is going to be a topic based content site, it's currently in stealth mode so I can't say too much but i'll let you know when it is live. I am wondering how important it is to build an iPad/iPhone application. As a site owner i want to be able to get anyone on my site and the iPad would be a great device to view it. Is it worth it to build an app or should I just make a mobile version of the site that looks good?
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6 Answers
The answer really depends on what you want your mobile app to do. Apps are great if you need:
• application speed and graphics (i.e. games, Photoshop Mobile)
• accelerometer access
• offline storage (ie RSS reader, subway map)
• force users to have a mobile device - you don't want them to use your service online (ie Gowalla)
• push notifications/background processes (ie a timer)
Besides that, a mobile site is cheaper, easier, and probably better.
Good questions John, and one we've wrestled with for http://mailVU.com. We decided to base our priorities on the greatest number of users. For us that meant focusing on computer users first (PC/Mac/Linux), mobile phone viewing second, and iPhone/iPad apps third. You may want to consider your target user base in these buckets, see how they rank for your specific application, and then prioritize accordingly. Keep in mind that Android users outnumber, or soon will outnumber iPhone users.
What you should be assessing is, how many mobile users are really going to access your site (vs. PC users)? Then, how many will need to actaully run an app (vs. simply viewing the data in a browser)? Then finally, if you are targeting mobile users, what kinds of users (i.e., if they are primarily enterprise types then BlackBerry might be a better choice, but if it is consumers, than iPhone/iPad is a higher priority). My advice: if this is primarily a content consumption web site, make everything browser accessible and assume that any mobile device can access it that way (that's not completely true, but a good generality and a lot less work than trying to build out unique apps for each mobile platform).
The developer's mantra should always be something like "write once, sell many times," so in general, I agree with Jack Gold's advice. I would add that you should focus as much of your efforts as possible on creating remarkable, memorable content, and make sure to support the most browsers with the fewest customizations -- and if you want to make it relatively painless to include iPad/iPod Touch/iPhone users, avoid Flash. Good luck, and keep us posted!
It is important to note that an iPhone app is not simply a website for iPhone.
In fact apple will reject such applications.
From my point of view, you should make your website for desktop/laptop (no flash) and then an optimized version for mobile devices.
When you come up with a good idea for an app related to your business then go for it. Just showing the same information found on your website is not worth it.
Wow, that's a good question. I don't have a "direct" answer for you but I know an individual that may be able to help you. His name is Bobby and he's a web developr. Bobby lives in the San Francisco Bay area. He's currently building a content management system for my business web site. You're welcome to email Bobby at; bobby@myflashdesign.net. Perhaps he can better serve your question and come up with a great answer.
All the best,
James
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