I’m building some web apps for clients. They’re usually CRMs, project management systems, custom CMS, support system etc…ie. all work and business related systems.
Often times, I think it would be awesome if the client had a mobile app to manage their web apps and the employees who use them. The challenge is building one mobile app that can work on all the different smart phones out there – iphones, blackberries, droids etc..
The easiest thing to do is to build a mobile version of the web app. The drawback is that mobile web apps are inferior to native mobile apps for the following reasons:
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web apps use more data transfer bandwidth
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web apps aren’t as responsive as native mobile apps
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web apps on mobile lack rich media support
— am i missing anything from the above list?
Do you think advances in mobile hardware technologies, improvements in mobile browser technologies and evolution of carrier provider business models will resolve the above issues in the near future (within the next 2-3 years)?
If yes, then there’s no practical reason for me to learn N different mobile application development platforms which may end up being obsolete for my purposes in 5 years. I should just sit back and wait for the mobile industry to catch up with my software development needs.
My question is in bold, but would appreciate feedback on anything else I’ve said.
I don’t think the issues will be totally resolved in the next 2-3 years, no. I think the situation will get better, but for the foreseeable future it seems that mobile devices will stay pretty much the same with regards to the above technologies. The devices are just too proprietary, there are just too many licensing issues to put say, flash on an iPhone. Android alleviates this to a point, but that still leaves the problems with the hardware itself. Unless companies loosen up on the technology a bit, or more open (not necessarily Open Source) mobile devices come along, things will remain as they are.