Mobile internet vs Mobile apps – the great debate
Originally published on the DMA Mobile Messaging site, our Strategy Director Tim Dunn debates the merits of mobile apps and mobile internet with Marks and Spencer’s Sienne Veit (Social and Mobile Commerce Development Manager)….
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Dear Tim
My approach to the mobile web is shaped by our approach to our customers – we sell to everybody across Britain, young or old, techie or not. One of our great successes is Shop Your Way – a multichannel initiative that enables shoppers to cross channels, including stores, web, phone and, in the future, mobile. Our customers interact with us across a range of channels through the course of a day, and we want to deliver as continuous a journey across those channels as possible, so that a journey started in one channel can proceed and be completed in any other(s). Our customers are now familiar with the web and shopping on the web. So it makes sense for any mobile web experience we plan to replicate that in as far as possible while ensuring that we optimise the specific channel (mobile) to make that journey about the product and make the technology invisible (you shouldn’t have to download, update or have to go into and out of multiple apps or sessions).
We know that apps can offer rich, immersive experiences, however, once they’ve had that rich immersive experience, the next thing they need to do is connect to the mobile web to make them truly useful. Ultimately most apps then become web apps – unless they are entirely reliant on specific phone functionality then most of them act as gateways to the web. As the mobile web experience improves, so the need for apps is reduced to just those (especially games) where you are indeed reliant on specific device functionality. With Webkit, HTML5 and Flash10 and software initiatives such as Phonegap, that rich interactive functionality is now a reality on the mobile web.
This message is very clear in Taptu’s report on the state of the mobile touch web. There were two pieces of information that stood out for me: The first was how many mobile touch websites there already are, Taptu estimates that there are 326,000 mobile touch web sites worldwide, compared to 148,000 iPhone apps in the App Store and 24,000 apps in the Android market. The second is that mobile touch websites have a far greater proportion of shopping and services sites (20%) compared to the App Store (3.6%). This may well be because, as Taptu says “many [Commerce] products and services do not really fit into Apple’s iTunes content-oriented billing system”. Also, web apps extend beyond the iPhone to every phone, so through mobile touch you extend your prospective customer base enormously.
So I’m standing up for the mobile web – it makes sense for us as a business, it makes sense for our customers and, if predictions by Morgan Stanley and Google come to pass, and our primary method of accessing the web is via mobile then this is what our customers will expect: that they will be able to consume content on mobile in much the same way as they do now on the fixed web (but better).
Sienne Veit
Social and Mobile Commerce Development Manager, M&S Direct
Dear Sienne
I commend your enthusiasm for the mobile web, and it goes without saying that all brands should make sure they have a mobile site provisioned for the increasing number of mobile users who are accessing URLs. However, I believe that that if a brand does not engage with the apps landscape, they are missing a trick. Even using your stats below, the scale of apps and mobile we are very much comparable, and if you include the vast catalogue of apps on independent stores such as GetJar and Mobile9, the volume of apps is surely greater.
It should be remembered that although apps are perceived as being ‘just’ for iPhone and Google devices, in fact the opposite is true – nearly every handset can support apps written in Java or BREW. Plus – look at where the landscape is going – there are major initiatives from Nokia (Ovi), Samsung (Bada), Microsoft (Marketplace) and Blackberry (App World) that are growing rapidly. For example, Ovi is now delivering over 1.5m downloads per day, with users averaging 12 items each. When Samsung kicks into gear you will have the world’s second largest device manufacturer behind apps as well. The whole of the mobile industry is behind apps, so brands should be also.
Let’s look at why apps are so great!
- The download of an app is a positive statement of intent to interact with your brand, and an expression of the esteem and admiration in which the brand is held. M&S inspires these emotions by the bucketload, so why not capitalise and take the screen-space that is rightfully yours on a user’s device, and within their digital lifestyle? The behaviour of bookmarking mobile sites on phones is not taken up by many users, but an app is a bookmark in itself.
- You mention experience – and this is the one word that everyone in the handset maker, network operator and content owner world is talking about. Devices are getting smarter all the time, and you simply cannot serve the best experience through the mobile web. An app can create this experience, and make your brand unique, rather than being just another shopping channel, while still pulling in web content so the products are front of mind.
- Currently, app users on iPhone and Android represent the most affluent target demographic imaginable, so why not give them the best experience possible right now – they deserve it. One newspaper I spoke to recently who are making hay on the iPhone refer to this as ‘super-serving their power users’. I couldn’t put it better myself.
Regarding mobile web apps: HTML5 is some way off in its full implementation, and to create a true web app – where you have all the experience of an app inside the browser, you must also wait for the Bondi set of browser standards to be fully implemented, and that won’t hit mass-market until at least the end of 2011.
Rolling out apps is relatively easy and cost-effective, provided your back-end data is in order, so why not pile in and get involved. M&S does so many things well – I’m sure you can lead the field here too!
Yours appily,
Tim Dunn
Head of Marketing Services, MIG
An interesting article and I’m switching between views on this one.
To start with though, I think mobile web vs. mobile app is really a fatuous argument, why one or the other? Why not both?
However, assuming it’s a straight choice.
Although there are impressive stats about the download of mobile apps beyond the iPhone, Blackberry and Android platforms – such as for Ovi (of which most of these are really ringtones or wallpapers) and GetJar (are there any non-techies using that?) – I think the reality is that, if brands have money to spend on apps they will focus on the top-end devices. Especially given the cost of developing across multiple platforms.
As such, the addressable consumer-base, although increasing, is limited. And by overlaying a brands (such as M&S) typical demographic on this further reduces the benefit of a specific app – especially in comparison to a mobile web site which naturally addresses all devices.
I do agree with Tim’s point regarding the brand marketing impact of a mobile app, but I believe that this is being diluted in the rush of brands to release apps. So then there’s the counter-argument of “if you don’t, your competitor will” which is equally valid.
However in retail, more than in other sectors, success is measured in pounds and pence. Any app would need to work pretty hard to justify the additional investment required over a mobile site in order to support all platforms. Which makes, 2011 and the inevitable move towards webapps, not so far away at all…
So, I guess my position is that apps can and most definitely do work, but they need to be relevant and justifiable given the wider mobile tool-kit. Just as 5 years ago, a poorly executed SMS campaign turned brands off from mobile, as will an app that achieves limited downloads or use.
Cheers guys!
Bod