Are you starting a new business and want to sell your products online or you want to make money by providing online services. For both types of businesses you need to develop either a mobile app or a website.
But before going ahead, one thing I want to make clear in your mind is that websites and mobile apps have many dissimilarities.
Choosing between these two depends on certain questions and by finding the answers to these questions, you can easily decide, whether you need a website or a mobile app or both.
A recent study by Smart Insights stated that 91% people still use the laptop and desktop to find anything on the internet while 80% use smartphone and 47% use tablet.
Above facts show that laptop and desktop are still the first choice of general users, but it is evident that smart phones and mobile apps are gaining popularity every single day.
So, developing a website or a mobile app both have their own advantages and disadvantages but which one you should develop, it is a crucial question. To get the answer, you have to concentrate on some factors listed below.
- What is your available budget?
The whole app development process revolves around your budget, If your budget is more than $10 k, you should go for a mobile app rather than a website. Mobile apps generally take higher budget while websites can be built for less budget.
The cost of smartphone app ranges from $10,000 (with 1 or 2 core features) to around $100k (with large number of features). If your budget is less than $10 k, then the app will not provide adequate results due to less number of features, in this case, you should go for a website.
But if your budget is more than $25,000, go for native applications with additional features like Geo-indoor maps, mobile payments etc.
- Do you need location based elements in your mobile app?
Location based elements utilize the user’s mobile device for bringing the information about a specific location. These elements provide up to date information about a particular location and save the time and cost of a general user.
If you want to know more about location-based elements just take a look at these facts provided by Statista. According to this survey, the number of location based service users in 2014 was around 150 million in United States and this number is increasing everyday.
Another Research done by Pew Research Center says, many people use their smartphones to navigate the world: 74% of adult smartphone owners of age 18 and older say that they use their smartphone to get directions or other information based on their current location.
The prime reason behind the popularity of location based services is the convenience offered by these services, a user can get information about any location anytime with help of location based mobile apps. While traveling, people cannot carry a laptop or desktop, they need an app to reach any place on their mobile devices.
If you want to understand more, Uber is the best example of these type of apps. It is a location based smartphone app which connects drivers with people, an on-demand transportation service. You could book your taxi anytime everywhere through this app.
Thus, If you want such location based elements into your business, you should surely go for an app rather than a website.
- Do you want to deliver information in real-time?
Real-time informative apps give the information about real-time situations. Many bus agencies are providing these type of facilities to their customers. People could get information about any delay in bus arrival through just an app.
An example of these type of apps is LIFT. It is an app that helps to improve habits among general people by tracking their behavior. LIFT work for health, fitness, happiness, productivity and deliver information in real-time.
Smartphone applications which give information about traffic are also the real time informative smartphone applications. Waze is the best example of these type of mobile applications, which gives information about real-time traffic.
If you are looking forward to include real time informative elements into your business, just go for a smart phone application and try this feature, it will surely help you to engage more users.
- Is mobile your prime differentiation from competition?
Prime differentiation from competition means if you have planned something different which is totally unique from other services and make you separate from competition.
Ok, this is a little bit confusing , let me explain this by an example of mailbox. Mailbox was one of the first services which was launched for mobile platforms, a simplified mail service for smartphones. Mailbox was the powerful and advanced tool for mobile emails with advanced filters and several email management tricks, which made mobile email more appealing and easy.
This was a totally new concept in the market which differentiated mailbox from competition, before that only web based mail services eg. Gmail, Hotmail were popular but not the mobile app.
Therefore, if you have an idea that make your business totally different from others especially from web apps then you should build a mobile app .
- Do you want an app which works well on each platform or a separate app for each platform?
Native apps are specially designed for a particular platform and installed directly on a mobile device. Mobile app developers have to create a separate smartphone app version for each mobile device.
For example, if you decide to build a navigation app which is only accessible on iPhone devices, you have to build a separate mobile app for Android. Thus, if you choose to make native mobile applications, you need to create a separate app for each platform.
On the other hand, Hybrid apps can work well on multiple platforms, it does not depend on the single platform. You could choose whichever you like between these two, according to your need and usefulness.
- Do you want features like notifications in your mobile app?
A notification is an alert or a reminder and gives the quick and easy access to important information. It can be created in the form of sound, a banner or an image or a number on the app icon.
An iPhone device can send information about a particular location also, for example when you a get specific location, you will get a reminder in the form of message.
Thus, it is clear from the above explanation that notifications are the messages which are only workable on your native mobile applications. For this, a smartphone app is always needed if you want to share important information with your users.
- Do you want social integration into your business?
There are 1.22 billion active Facebook users in the world, it shows that social media is a powerful channel. Social sharing is a convenient way for engaging more new users. It connects friends, family and business contacts together and improves the access to information.
You could know more about the importance of social networks by clicking on this link, provided by statista. Thus, you should have all the social sharing buttons into your business whether it is a mobile app or a website.
Now the question is, should you go for an smartphone application or a website with social integrations? I would suggest, go for a mobile app rather than a website, due to increased popularity of mobile applications.
- Do you want Geo-location integration into your business?
Geo-location give the information about your present location to other users, it also provides the details about real-world locations to current locations.
For example, if you are searching for a restaurant then Geo-location service can provide you the details about all nearby restaurants in your circle.
Thus, if you want this feature into your business, go for an iPhone and android mobile app.
- Do you want QR/Barcode scanner integration into your business?
QR stands for quick response and allows users to point their smartphones to a square barcode.
By scanning whole code, you are able to access different information. Barcode scanner allows users to access online coupons, company websites, contact info and so on.
Thus if you really want QR code and barcode scanner into your business, go for a smartphone app, this feature will surely boost your customers engagement.
- Do you want to give GPS Coupons to your customers?
GPS coupons are the great way to provide incentives to your customers. You can interact with more people by providing these type of incentives. You could provide additional discounts to your customers by this way.
If you want to give these type of discounts to your customers try GPS Coupons and go for an app.
Conclusion:
Above explanation clearly states that if you want to deliver real-time information and modern features like notification, mail services, QR and Barcode scanning, you should develop a smartphone app. But the prime thing here is your available budget.
Your budget should be more than $10 k. You could ask for more features If your budget is around $50 k or above. Thus, available budget plays a vital role in whole app development process whether it is android or iPhone app development.
Himanshu Mehra
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