You have your own preference when it comes to consuming content. But as a developer, how do you decide if you should build an html5 web app or a mobile application? I’ve done a lot of thinking about this lately.
Interesting to note in this great article by Steve Rubel on AdAge he’s changed his stance that mobile apps are where it’s at; he’s gone back toward web applications in certain situations.
LinkedIn’s wonderful new iphone app and html5 web-based apps show it’s important to cover your bases when reaching users.
There are services like PhoneGap that allow web developed apps to be turned into mobile apps, I wonder why Steve didn’t cover this? Because this is where I think the next wave is headed. Once you create a web app in html5 and javascript you can easily port it using PhoneGap to mobile devices, not just iphone but Android and more.
The fact is that some like mobile apps and some prefer the web and some use both depending on what device they’re on, you just have to cater to them even though it costs more in development time.
