In a rather insightful new Whitepaper published by Global Intelligence Alliance (GIA), the debate over Web apps as opposed to native mobile apps is highlighted in detail, covering several key points for each concept.
Dubbed “Native or Web App,” the new Whitepaper includes a study conducted by GIA amongst developers, publishers, service providers and design agencies that collectively serve millions of consumers over mobile media.
Among other conclusions, the study projects that web apps will become more viable as a mobile distribution platform, and will soon lead to a proliferation of content distribution beyond typically tightly controlled App Store environments.
This development is very much like the evolution of the Internet experience on computers, and is particularly true for subscription-based mobile services such as news and weather, which rely on iterative design and user analytics for its evolution.
On the other hand, however, the Whitepaper also indicates that native apps are currently more favoured by smaller and pay-per-download application providers, who have a greater need for monetization and value the benefit of established app store distribution channels.
Another key projection is the fact that despite conventional beliefs, the majority of native device attributes are set to reach mobile/HTML5 Web applications by 2013, while enabling the same user-experiences achieved currently by native apps.
