BRotD - Entry 0235 Are You Investing Too Much in Your Mobile App?

Best Reading of the Day

I've spent many years working on software development projects and was an early adopter of smart phones with their "apps".  The past few years I've worked exclusively on mobile apps in a consumer-facing product capacity so I'm fluent in the strengths and weaknesses of mobile apps.  However I'm also likely biased, with an inherent blind spot, in favor of mobile apps due to my career choices.

How can we shine some light in to the darkness of our blind spots with out asking questions and challenging ourselves?  A recent article by the folks over at Econsultancy will help me and might help you as well. It is titled "Eight Reasons to Kill Your Native Mobile App".

https://econsultancy.com/blog/66977-eight-reasons-to-kill-your-native-mobile-app/

The key word there is 'native'. They aren't declaring a withdrawal from support of mobile in general, just emphasizing the native development vs. mobile web question.  Native apps are much, much more expensive than mere mobile websites or 'hybrids' where a simple app encapsulates mobile web content.

Here is a snippet from the piece:

Companies have invested significant sums in developing native mobile apps but the harsh reality is that many have little to show for it.

While many continue to maintain and invest in their apps despite the results, some are deciding that it's better to pull the plug.

One such company is Atavist, a digital magazine that launched in 2010 just as excitement around media consumption on phones and tablets was building.

But five years later, the upstart publisher came to the conclusion that the most sensible thing to do was kill its native app.

When should a company make a similar decision? Here are eight reasons it might make sense to retire a native app...

The article linked in that snippet is worth reading as well.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant