The field of mobile phone technology is rather confusing. There are a lot of options currently, including HTML5 technology, native application development method and various content management systems. Different companies have different choices when promoting mobile phones. The biggest problem is that, how to deal with the conflicts between HTML5 and the native applications. Most discussions are regarding the different technological features of them. But the decision should be based on the traffic types of sites.
Traffic sources
If most traffic is secondhand traffic from Google, Facebook and Twitter, the site should use mobile webs and HTML5. Because most site users reach the sites through links, the content have to be loaded on the phone browser fast. Such sites include lyrics-searching sites and other sort of information-searching sites.
If most traffic is direct intermittent traffic, it means that the users will visit the sites directly, but the access frequency will not be very high, so such sites should use HTML5 mobile webs.
If most traffic is direct traffic, people will visit the homepage by bookmarks or typing the URL address. Such sites should use native applications. Such sites include CBS.com, CNET Reviews and other well-known sites.
For the sites whose traffic is both direct and indirect, both native applications and HTML5 should be used, but remember, do not promote native applications to those who visit mobile sites of mobile phones, or the users will feel disgusting. They usually visit the sites through the links on Google or Facebook. They want to see the content immediately, not download your applications.
Cost
When deciding whether to build an HTML5 mobile website or native applications, the next question you come across is how much you are willing to spend. In fact, there are only two options: little or a lot.
Usually, we should choose a feasible and less expensive solution at first. In terms of the HTML5 mobile website, Pressly or Mobify or other service provider like that can give you some aid to make it attractive. WordPress with mobile phone plug-ins can perform pretty well on iPhone and Android devices. Remember to add the option “check the whole site”, so that your users are able to get beyond the mobile phone to access to functions which HTML5 does not support.
To create feasible native apps, MobilleRoadie and something like that can be taken into account. You can acquire excellent iPhone and Android native apps from it. The version which can support iPad will be released soon.
After you have the basic mobile presence, you can start to consider about adding some customized experiences to the users, to add functions and improve the user interface. Unfortunately, personality means more cost, for both HTML5 and native apps.
There are a lot of systems integrators you can choose from, to assist iPhone, iPad and Android native apps. You have to notice that, these systems need to be integrated with your registration, user profile and content systems, which requires the work of engineering and IT. Systems integrators such as FreeRange360 have an underlying platform which can make such customization pretty straightforward.
Despite the fact that HTML5 has developed to some extent, it is still not as developed as native apps. Publishers such as Financial Times and Playboy have invested a lot in HTML5 to make its functions similar to those of native apps, so that 30% fees of the Apple apps store can be avoided. However, no functions such as efficient clicks and offline reading can be provided by JavaScript library.
It is relatively easy to provide efficient mobile phone website experiences. Mobile libraries such as jQuery and Sencha provide great HTML5 iPhone style user interface.
In terms of properties mainly including texts and images, you can consider about mixing the HTML5 and native apps. Although it sounds like an ideal solution, but such solution needs to be improved. It requires a large amount of work to make the HTML5 work looking like a native app.
In a word, when considering the mobile development strategy, the site traffic type determines whether you use HTML5 mobile website or native apps. Then you decide to make it practical or customize according to your budget.
