BostInno's State of Innovation is a month-long feature on mobile, marketing, retail and e-commerce, and higher education innovation in Boston. #BSOI will include research reports, indexes, and more exclusive content for Channel members and the State of Innovation Forum on June 27th. Contact us to learn more.
As we get closer and closer to BostInno's State of Innovation event, I've been sharing some of our findings with respect to the state of mobile computing. I've raised doubts about consumers' interest in new apps, and then looked at Wayfair's approach to mobile strategy. Today's post offers the perspective of Terrible Labs' Jeremy Weiskotten who, as a developer at a top Boston dev shop, has a unique perspective on the trends shaping the industry.
As part of my research for the forthcoming State of Innovation Mobile report, I asked him a few questions. His responses are included below. For more on this subject, check out our upcoming event.
How significantly has the demand for mobile apps increased in the past two years?
The demand for mobile has definitely grown. It's hard to put a number on it, but everyone is thinking about their mobile presence even if their product isn't inherently mobile. Mobile platforms have also created entirely new opportunities for location-based apps and access to knowledge where and when it's most valuable, which really wasn't possible before.
We're also seeing companies looking for help updating apps that first shipped months or years ago. Mobile technology and development tools are continuously evolving but a lot of older apps haven't kept up and are starting to look and feel pretty dated already. Plus developers, marketers, etc., have had a few years now to learn how to get the most out of mobile platforms.
What about for mobile-friendly websites?
Mobile-friendly web apps are also definitely in demand. Some clients expect their MVP to include a responsive design for mobile devices. Developer tools like Sass and responsive grid systems (like the ones provided by Twitter Bootstrap and Zurb Foundation) have made it much easier to make websites mobile-friendly.
How would you advise a client trying to decide between the two?
It mostly comes down to who their users are and how and where they'll use the app. For early stage startups, unless the product obviously calls for a native mobile app, we'll usually advise them to focus on the web because it's much easier to iterate, deploy, and test new features or other changes.
Sometimes the trickier question is whether they need an iOS app, an Android app, or both.
What do you expect to change in the coming two years in terms of mobile?
I'm not sure if I really expect it to happen or if it's just wishful thinking, but I imagine that we'll start to see more consistency and unification in the tools we use to build and deploy apps for iOS, Android, desktops, and the web. In the past, we had native web wrappers like PhoneGap, bridges likes Titanium, and cross-compilers, but they all had drawbacks and nothing really stood out as a clear winner.
We're excited about some newer tools like RubyMotion and Pixate that are starting to provide a modern cross-platform development toolchain.
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Thoughts? Let us know in the comments.
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