This document discusses the options for developing mobile applications: native, mobile web, and hybrid. Native apps are built using platform-specific languages and have the richest user experience but require developing for each platform. Mobile web apps use web technologies and have the broadest reach but limited access to device capabilities. Hybrid apps combine web technologies with native wrappers for full capabilities across platforms but native interactions are not perfect. The document provides examples and guidance on selecting the right approach based on user needs, capabilities required, and platforms to support.

1. Pick Your Poison – Mobile Web, Native, or Hybrid?

2. Introduction
Shane Church | Technical Lead
shane.church@effectiveui.com
Blog: http://www.s-church.net
http://www.effectiveui.com
Twitter: #effectiveui

3. Thank You
http://www.uncubedspace.com/

4. Why Does Your Mobile Experience Matter?

5. Say if a mobile app is not useful, it results in a negative
69% perception about the brand
32% Have told others about a bad experience with a mobile app
Have avoided downloading applications from a company
13% due to a previous bad experience with another app offered
by that brand
-Harris Interactive, November 2010

6. Have downloaded an app based on a review or
66% recommendation
Have recommended an app because of a positive
57% experience
-Harris Interactive, November 2010

7. Worldwide Smartphone Market Share
Windows Phone Linux Others
Windows Phone LinuxOthers
Symbian
Symbian Blackberry
Android
iOS
Blackberry
Android
iOS
Q2 2011 Q2 2012
Source: IDC

8. The Available Poisons
What do each of the technology choices entail?

9. Mobile Web
Accessed over the Web, Mobile Web apps are built using Web technologies
including HTML5 and JavaScript.
Pros:
 Lowest barrier to first time use
 Cost effective multi-device support
 You control application updates
 Broadest possible reach
Cons:
 Limited access to device hardware
 User interactions not native

10. Mobile Web Examples
http://www.bostonglobe.com http://usa.kapersky.com http://m.foodandwine.com

11. Hybrid
Built using a combination of HTML5 and JavaScript and packaged with a
framework like PhoneGap or Appcelerator Titanium or a custom native shell
Pros:
 Full device capabilities
 Cost effective multi-device support
 Sticky app and control over content
Cons:
 User interactions not native
 Need to build native wrappers for multiple platforms

12. Hybrid Examples
Logitech Squeezebox DirectTrac NBC
(PhoneGap) (Orubase) (Appcelerator)

13. Native
Built using platform native languages and tools like Objective-C for iOS, Java
for Android, and .NET for Windows Phone
Pros
 Sticky application access
 Richest interactions can be built
 Full device capabilities available
Cons
 Need to build for multiple platforms
 Typically more expensive to build
 Requires specialized developer expertise for each platform

14. Cross-Platform Native
Built using .NET and Xamarin’s Mono Touch for iOS and Mono for Android and
Visual Studio for Windows Phone
Pros
 Same pros as traditional native development
 Use a common development language
 70-90% code reuse between platforms
Cons
 Some delays in accommodating OS updates
 Dependence on a third party vendor

15. Native Examples
iOS Android Windows Phone 7
Pearson eCollege

16. Native Examples
iOS Android Windows Phone 7
Chase Mobile Banking

17. The Facebook Conundrum
What does Facebook’s switch from HTML5 to native on iOS mean?

18. Facebook abandons HTML5 on iOS
InfoWorld – September 6, 2012
Facebook Kisses HTML5 Goodbye With Rebuilt iOS App
MacNewsWorld – August 25, 2012

19. “We deliberately made a trade off to get to scale. We used HTML5 to test
and try things out, and people love that in the browser, but they have
different expectations of a native IOS app. So with this release we
rebuilt the app from scratch over the last 9 months and the main
improvement is performance. Now there’s a lot more code built in
Objective-C than HTML5.”
Mick Johnson
Facebook iOS Product Manager

20. "HTML5 is still incredibly important to us. We get two times the mobile
traffic [on m.facebook.com] than from iOS and Android combined."
Mick Johnson
Facebook iOS Product Manager

21. How to Pick Your Poison
A guide to selecting the right technology approach for your application

23. Ruling Out the Mobile Web
 Do you need access to device hardware capabilities like the camera, or
accelerometer?
 Do you need a presence in the app stores (Google Play, iTunes, Windows
Phone Marketplace)?
 Does your app need to take advantage of push notifications?

24. Going Native
 Does the app need to perform any processor or graphics intensive
operations like 3D graphics or real-time calculations i.e. most games?
 Does the app need to be functional offline? To what degree?

25. Am I a Hybrid?
 What is the goal the user wants to accomplish by using your app?
 How sensitive is the app to variance in network performance?
 What is the platform matrix that you want to support?
 What is your tolerance for supporting multiple apps and operating systems?
 What percentage of the market are you comfortable ignoring?

27. Case Study
How I Addressed This Question For An EffectiveUI Client

28. Cartegraph
 Targeting Municipal Governments
 Needed an app for mobile field workers who processed multiple work orders
for assets such as signs, benches, and fire hydrants
 Already in the process of developing a Web-based tracking application for
desktop clients
 Needed the ability to upload pictures and access mapping functionality

29. Cartegraph

30. The User Is Key

31. We now have the foundation for easy to
deploy, composite applications.
But those applications will live or die on the
acceptance of their human interfaces.
Anthony Franco
EffectiveUI Founder and President

32. There Is No One Right Answer
Remember That User Experience Matters

33. Recommended Tools and References

34. Mobile Web Development Tools
 jQuery Mobile – http://jquerymobile.com/
 Sencha Touch – http://www.sencha.com/
 Twitter Bootstrap – http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/

35. Native Development Tools
 Apple iOS – https://developer.apple.com/
 Google Android – http://developer.android.com/
 Windows Phone – http://dev.windowsphone.com/
 Blackberry – http://developer.blackberry.com/

36. Hybrid Development Tools
 PhoneGap – http://phonegap.com/
 Appcelerator Titanium – http://www.appcelerator.com/
 SyncFusion Orubase – http://orubase.com/
 appMobi – http://appmobi.com/
 Motorola RhoMobile – http://www.motorola.com/Business/US-
EN/Business+Product+and+Services/Software+and+Applications/RhoMobile
+Suite
 Corona – http://www.coronalabs.com/

37. Articles
 ASP.NET MVC 3 - Develop Hybrid Native and Mobile Web Apps
Shane Church – MSDN Magazine – March 2012
http://msdn.microsoft.com/magazine/hh852592
 Facebook For iOS App Is Now 2X Faster
Josh Constine – TechCrunch – August 23, 2012
http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/23/facebook-for-ios-faster/
 Windows Phone - Building an App for Both Windows Phone and iOS
Andrew Whitechapel – MSDN Magazine – October 2012
http://msdn.microsoft.com/magazine/jj658972

38. Thank you!

39. Download These Slides
http://www.slideshare.net/effectiveui
Questions and Discussion
Shane Church | Technical Lead
shane.church@effectiveui.com
Blog: http://www.s-church.net
http://www.effectiveui.com
Twitter: #effectiveui