Mobile publishing: apps or mobile websites? @wsff10

Should publishers be focusing their mobile strategies on apps or mobile websites? That was the subject of a head-to-head debate at the M-Publishing conference in London today.

Matt Millar, CEO of Live Talkback, put the case for apps.

"Mobile isn't about mobile, it's about convenience. It's about simplicity. So what's the most convenient way of making things easy to use?" he said.

He talked about the way mobile apps can currently use all of the features of a device, and that people are keen to use them.

"You're giving them the best possible experience," he said. "Is a mobile website really the best possible experience? Don't cut corners, and don't simplify things because it will be a little bit easier for your developers."

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Millar said that people accessing a service via an app will use it "about three to six times as much as people with mobile web on the same device", according to Live Talkback's experience.

Joan Blaas, CEO of Mobzmedia, put the case for the mobile web, pointing to people's desktop PC use as a reason to believe that the web wins out over apps.

"It frustrates people to have only one application, like the Financial Times, because they're used to getting their news from multiple sources," he added, referring specifically to the publishing industry.

Blaas also talked about "the inflexibility of an app" - publishers have to release new updates if they want to change the app, for example rebranding it for a big event like the World Cup.

"On the mobile internet, it could be done in a day," he said.

Blaas also highlighted the advantage for a publisher of running their mobile site off the same content management system as their website.

"It's a lot simpler, as a publisher you can reach a larger audience, and you don't have to compromise on reach," he said.

The problem with boiling apps versus mobile web into an adversarial debate, though, is that it relies on the premise that one of them has to 'win'. When in truth, both mobile apps and mobile websites are important.

Or at least deserve equal consideration in the strategies of publishers, even if that means launching apps in the short term while working on a mobile web strategy for the future.

As the first questioner from the audience said: "Isn't this a bit of a moot point, because as publishers you need to be focusing on a multi-channel strategy?"

Quite.

"The challenge is how do you pick a priority?" responded Millar. "You have to pick some areas to spend. And I also think you have to realise that you have to pick some focus."

via mobile-ent.biz

Posted via web from Siobhan O'Flynn's 1001 Tales