Native Versus Web Based Mobile Apps

Improve your personal branding by going mobile

It can’t be denied that mobile apps are here to stay. Practically everyone has an iPhone, an Android, or another smartphone that enables them to connect with their favorite brands whenever and wherever they are. They have changed the way people interact with brands. No need to have a laptop or a PC anymore – all you need is a mobile phone that allows you to connect to the World Wide Web and access apps.

As a personal brand or small business owner, you should definitely consider adding “mobile” to your marketing mix. It’s another “social” way to market your brand, since people access their smartphones all the time. But if you’re considering mobile apps to your promotional campaign, then you need to consider which is best for you: native or web based mobile apps.

Native Mobile Apps

A native mobile app is basically an app that’s designed to run on a specific device’s operating system. It needs to be developed for different systems. The two most popular systems or platforms are the Apple App and the Google Android, and the apps can be accessed through the iPhone/iPod and Android devices respectively. As a small business owner, you can develop your native mobile app and then offer it in the Apple App Store or the Google Android Market so that people can access it. You can also create your own system that the user will download and use.

Some of the advantages of native mobile apps include:

• Easier to monetize
• Easy to download and install the app
• Ability to access the app even without Internet
• Fast, reliable and powerful
• More ability to control the user’s experience
• Access to APIs not available to web apps

Disadvantages include:

• Expensive and more difficult to develop
• High upkeep
• Specific to the device it runs on, so one has to develop another app for it to run on another platform
• Less accessible to everyone

Web Based Mobile Apps

Web based mobile apps, on the other hand, run in the mobile phone’s browser. The data is downloaded while you’re on the web. So you have to be online to access them.

Some of the advantages of web based mobile apps are:

• Easier and cheaper to develop
• Works on all devices, since you only need to connect to the Internet
• No need to download anything to your device
• More accessible to everyone

And here are the disadvantages:

• Lesser flexibility in terms of developing the app
• Cannot use when offline
• Lesser user experience
• Can become slow and unreliable, depending on the person’s Internet connection

So which among the two are better and best for your brand? Well, if you’re a small business owner with a bigger-than-most budget, and you really think that mobile apps are an excellent way to connect with your customers, then go for native apps! On the other hand, if your budget isn’t really that big, and you’re still on the fence, if mobile apps can work for your brand, then perhaps you can start with more affordable, web based mobile apps first.

Truly, the more important question is, what do your audience and customers want? Do you think that mobile apps can provide them a better experience of your brand? And once you’ve answered those two questions, you can then proceed to choosing between native and mobile apps, and deciding which will work well with your personal and small business brand.