The document discusses the choices and tradeoffs between developing native mobile apps, mobile web apps, and hybrid apps. It notes that while native apps have advantages like performance and access to device features, the mobile web is more open and has lower costs. Hybrid apps attempt to combine the best of both by using web technologies like HTML and JavaScript with APIs that allow accessing device capabilities. The performance of mobile web technologies is improving but some applications still require native development.

1. Native
vs
Web
vs
Hybrid
Mobile Development Choices
Jason Grigsby
@grigs on Twitter • jason@cloudfour.com
cloudfour.com • userfirstweb.com
mobileportand.com

4. Early 2008

5. “It’s about usage. Not units”
• Number of queries on Google search from iPhones surpassed those
from Symbian-based phones in the days after Christmas. Nokia’s
Symbian-based phones are 40% of the market worldwide.
• German iPhone users consume 30 times more data.
• 95% of iPhone customers regularly surf the Internet. Data services
revenue increased from $2.7 billion in 2005 to $6.9 billion in 2007.
• Google sees 50 times the number of searches using the iPhone than
any other mobile device. They were so surprised, they asked their
engineers to check the logs to make sure it was correct.
• This is why major companies, Google, Quicken, etc. are all launching
iPhone-optimized services despite the iPhone’s 1% market share.

7. Surprise Story of 2008
Flickr photo by Drift Words: http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124413076@N01/11846265/

8. Flickr photo by Civisi: http://www.flickr.com/photos/civisi/2611679744/
Web 2.0 iPhone App Store
Web-based Apps Native Apps
Services & Mashups Few APIs between apps
Software as Service No Recurring Revenue
Cloud Computing Local Storage

9. http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_10_web_platforms_of_2008.php

10. What makes the App Store successful?
Carriers App Store
Open to anyone
Openness Closed, Seek permission
who signs agreement
Entry Cost Thousands of dollars $99
Revenue Split 60/40 to 50/50 70/30
Restrictions Many Few
Releases Difficult, Timely 1 to 2 weeks
Micropayments Inconsistent iTunes for every phone

11. 30 million
devices
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2009/02/shoot-is-iphone.html#c148364123
25,000
apps
http://www.newsweek.com/id/174266
800 million
downloads
http://businessweek.com/@@0M43kIYQYKPISw0A/technology/content/sep2008/tc20080930_257832.htm

12. Gold Rush was On

14. Ringtone Apps
(FYI: Justin’s app is out soon. GymRat. $4.99)
http://twitter.com/justin/status/1210786170
http://furbo.org/2008/12/09/ring-tone-apps/
http://furbo.org/2009/02/16/raising-prices/

15. Ringtone Apps
15000
11250
7500
3750
0
0 1.99 3.99 5.99 7.99 9.99 11.99 13.99 15.99+
http://148apps.com/10000

16. Brutally Honest iPhone App Sales:
$32k Spent vs. $535 Revenue
Dapple
http://www.streamingcolour.com/blog/2009/03/09/the-numbers-post-aka-brutal-honesty/

17. Throwaway Apps
http://www.pinchmedia.com/appstore-secrets/

18. Throwaway Apps
http://www.pinchmedia.com/appstore-secrets/

19. Pinch Media’s Conclusions
•Users stop using the average applications
quickly.
•Long-term audiences are generally 1% of
total downloads
•Paid apps retain users longer, but still
steep drop o.
http://www.pinchmedia.com/appstore-secrets/

20. Success Determined by Top Lists Features
http://appcubby.com/blog/files/financial_realities.html

21. More Open ≠ No Gatekeeper
96%
Approved
(what about that 4%?)

22. 10 Rejected Applications
Obama Trampoline
•
MyShoe
•
I Am Poor
•
The South Park App
•
Pull My Finger
•
iBoobs
•
Slasher
•
Murderdome
•
Podcaster
•
Freedom Time
•
quot;Even though my personal political leanings are
Democratic, I think this app will be offensive to roughly
half our customers. What's the point?quot; — Steve Jobs
http://www.pcworld.com/article/159887-2/rejected_10_iphone_apps_that_didnt_make_apples_app_store.html

25. iPhone Only Part of World Wide Market
Symbian RIM Windows Mobile iPhone Linux
Palm OS Other
20000
17949
15000
10000
7443
5000
4714
4079
3195
0
327 437
Q4 2008 Smartphone Sales — Thousands of Units
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=910112

26. 3.3
Billion
Mobile phone for
half the planet.
Flickr photo by Pingnews: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pingnews/370061022/

27. 3.3 Billion in Perspective
Source: http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2007/01/putting_27_bill.html
http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2008/01/when-there-is-a.html

28. 2007 SMS Revenue: 100 billion
Flickr photo by Vlastula: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vlastula/450642954/

29. 2007 SMS Revenue: 100 billion
•Box Office
•DVD Sales Rentals
Combined •Music Industry
•Video Games
Flickr photo by Vlastula: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vlastula/450642954/

30. 200 billion for data services in 2008
(SMS accounts for 130B)
•Box Office
•DVD Sales Rentals
Combined •Music Industry
•Video Games
Flickr photo by Vlastula: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vlastula/450642954/

32. Symbian Windows Mobile
Objective C WebOS
C
Dalvik
Java ME
Palm
Visual Basic
C++
.NET Compact
BREW
Flickr photo by André-Batista: http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=408700622size=o

33. Google Mobile — App Challenges
• Pressure from CEO for rapid releases
• 10+ platforms to support
• Over 100 dierent builds
http://www.flickr.com/photos/83731031@N00/445924458/ • http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcdave/142758127/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nataliejohnson/290541732/

34. Fragmentation:
This is what the
web is supposed
to solve.
Flickr photo by .Hessam: http://www.flickr.com/photos/essamo/1070527547/

35. Mobile Web Doubled in 2008
Jan 08 Jan 09
10821
Daily
22369
10312
Weekly
19283
36870
Ever in Month
63182
0 17500 35000 52500 70000
Unique Users (000s)
http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2752

36. Mobile Internet to Grow Despite Recession
Average intended usage increase over the next 24 months
U.S. Europe
Current Users 58% 55%
Non-Users 27% 28%
http://www.tellabs.com/news/2009/index.cfm/nr/53.cfm

37. Top Five Services Non-users Intend
to Start Using in the Next 24 Months
U.S. Europe
Mobile Internet 49% 34%
MMS 38% 39%
Uploading Photos 34% 27%
Software/app download 30% 30%
Email 28% 32%

38. Mobile Web Distribution
Carriers App Store Mobile Web
Closed, Seek Open to anyone
Completely Open
Openness
permission who signs agreement
Thousands of dollars $99 None
Entry Cost
60/40 to 50/50 70/30 100%
Revenue Split
Many Few None
Restrictions
Difficult, Timely 1 to 2 weeks Instantaneous
Releases
Inconsistent iTunes for every phone Not yet
Micropayments

39. Ok Hot Shot, How are You Going to Create
Super Monkey Ball with HTML?

40. Ok Hot Shot, How are You Going to Create
Super Monkey Ball with HTML?
div id=”bridge”
class=”rope”
div id=”bubble”
span id=”monkey sprite-
replace”
Monkey/span
jquery-banana.js

41. Ok Hot Shot, How are You Going to Create
Super Monkey Ball with HTML?
div id=”bridge”
class=”rope”
div id=”bubble”
span id=”monkey sprite-
replace”
Monkey/span
jquery-banana.js
Some Applications Have to Be Native

42. Five Common Reasons for Native Apps
Performance
Offline Mode
Findability
Device Attributes
Monetization
Flickr photo by John Wardell (Netinho): http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=760902403size=l

43. Not for all applications
Good enough for many applications
Javascript Performance improving
Hardware Accelerated CSS
Web developers must improve
Flickr: Uploaded February 11, 2007 by hawridger

44. Javascript Speed Wars
http://webkit.org/blog/189/announcing-squirrelfish/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10030888-92.html
http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/roadmap/archives/2008/09/tracemonkey_update.html
http://webkit.org/blog/214/introducing-squirrelfish-extreme/

45. Javascript Speed Wars
http://webkit.org/blog/189/announcing-squirrelfish/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10030888-92.html
http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/roadmap/archives/2008/09/tracemonkey_update.html
http://webkit.org/blog/214/introducing-squirrelfish-extreme/

46. Javascript Speed Wars
http://webkit.org/blog/189/announcing-squirrelfish/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10030888-92.html
http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/roadmap/archives/2008/09/tracemonkey_update.html
http://webkit.org/blog/214/introducing-squirrelfish-extreme/

47. Javascript Speed Wars
http://webkit.org/blog/189/announcing-squirrelfish/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10030888-92.html
http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/roadmap/archives/2008/09/tracemonkey_update.html
http://webkit.org/blog/214/introducing-squirrelfish-extreme/

48. Javascript Speed Wars
http://webkit.org/blog/189/announcing-squirrelfish/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10030888-92.html
http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/roadmap/archives/2008/09/tracemonkey_update.html
http://webkit.org/blog/214/introducing-squirrelfish-extreme/

50. We’ve Become Bandwidth Gluttons
Since 2003:
Page Size Tripled
• Web
of Objects Doubled
•#
Since 1995:
Page Size: 22x
• Web
of Objects: 21x
•#
Source: http://www.websiteoptimization.com/speed/tweak/average-web-page/

51. Yahoo!’s 14 Performance Rules (Now 34!)
1. Make Fewer HTTP Requests 8. Make JavaScript and CSS External
2. Use a Content Delivery Network 9. Reduce DNS Lookups
3. Add an Expires Header 10.Minify JavaScript
4. Gzip Components 11.Avoid Redirects
5. Put Stylesheets at the Top 12.Remove Duplicate Scripts
6. Move Scripts to the Bottom 13.Configure ETags
7. Avoid CSS Expressions 14.Make AJAX Cacheable
Source: http://developer.yahoo.com/performance/rules.html

52. Offline Support
• HTML 5
• Client-side Database Storage API
• Application Cache
• Essentially SQLite in browser
• Available on iPhone since 2.0
• Google Gears, Android, Nokia soon?

53. 25,000 Apps
Findability?
http://148apps.com/10000

54. “It all depends on the application, of course,” says
Mauro Montanaro, [Fox Mobile CEO] “and whether
they are paid or free.” But he also notes that the
“discoverability” of iPhone apps is becoming a bigger
problem, and that some of the marketing tactics that
Fox Mobile has used successfully on other handsets
just don’t work on the iPhone.
“The question, as usual, is placement. Who determines
[editorial placement]? Maybe someone out of Cupertino.”

55. Geolocation API
Camera
Address Book
Accelerometer

56. Flickr photo by Lyza Gardner: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lyza/49545547/

57. Flickr photo by Thomas Purves: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomaspurves/744225198/

58. http://phonegap.com

59. What Can You Do With PhoneGap?
http://phonegap.com/projects

60. Phone
Gap?
Yes
we
can

62. Mobile Progressive Enhancement
[content]
http://mobiforge.com/designing/story/effective-design-multiple-screen-sizes

63. Mobile Progressive Enhancement
[content]
WURFL
http://mobiforge.com/designing/story/effective-design-multiple-screen-sizes

64. Mobile Progressive Enhancement
[content]
WURFL
http://mobiforge.com/designing/story/effective-design-multiple-screen-sizes

65. Mobile Progressive Enhancement
[content]
WURFL Phone Gap
Add Functionality
http://mobiforge.com/designing/story/effective-design-multiple-screen-sizes

66. Mobile Progressive Enhancement
[content]
WURFL Phone Gap
Add Functionality
http://mobiforge.com/designing/story/effective-design-multiple-screen-sizes

67. Keys to Successful Hybrid Apps
•Make the experience feel like a native application
•Take advantage of the enhanced features
•Don’t simply release a hybrid version of the
mobile web site
•Optimize performance

69. Flickr photo by MarkKelley: http://www.flickr.com/photos/markkelley/1022720488/

70. Thank You for Your Time!
Work: http://cloudfour.com • Blog: http://userfirstweb.com • Twitter: @grigs
Mobile Concurrency Test: http://cloudfour.com/mobile/
Flickr photo by Pingnews: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pingnews/370061022/