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This is a little curmudgeonly, but this is how I feel... If your developers are not capable of making your website mobible friendly in 2015, any app they devel

This is a little curmudgeonly, but this is how I feel... If your developers are not capable of making your website mobible friendly in 2015, any app they develop is likely worse. This is especially true when your app demands access to everything on my phone even though it doesn't need any of it to function.

roasm 11y ago
You're suggesting that you can make something as usable on a mobile browser as you can with a native app. That's just not true; if it were, there wouldn't be any native apps. For many use cases (games, highly interactive experiences, camera or microphone using app, etc.), a native app may just be better, and guiding users there might be a better experience and a better conversion funnel. Yes, you can make a website mobile friendly, but that doesn't mean it will be as good as the native app.
- stcredzero 11y ago
  Often, the native app is just as bad or worse! At least the just-as-bad native app didn't soak up your time and bandwidth!
  - ianstallings 11y ago
    If that were the case no one would ever install native apps. But the reality is given the choice, most people will use the app. I know this is a fact because mobile is my bread and butter. But if you need some evidence just go look at any of the analytics data that's out there. The majority of time spent on mobile by a user is using an app, with a much smaller percentage of time using the browser.
    - stcredzero 11y ago
      Most apps are ok, or at least no worse than the browser. Some are way worse. In no case does the interstitial take into account your momentary cost/benefit for downloading/installing or if the app is any good.
- click170 11y ago
  > You're suggesting that you can make something as usable on a mobile browser as you can with a native app. That's just not true; if it were, there wouldn't be any native apps. In the context of forums though, its entirely true and accurate. If we were talking about apps, as in things that require more than an internet connection to work, I would agree with you. Just because you can make it an app, doesn't mean you should.
- moblesque 11y ago
  >> You're suggesting that you can make something as usable on a mobile browser as you can with a native app. http://mobile.weather.gov/ http://mobile.weather.gov/ would disagree with you.
- neoCrimeLabs 11y ago
  It's absolutely true that a native application can be more functional than a mobile friendly website. When it comes to websites that try to force their app upon you when visiting their mobile website, my experience has almost always bee n the application is as bad as, if not worse than, the website's functionality. This gets to my point that if your developers are not capable of building a decent mobile friendly website then they are probably not any better at building an app. Also I hinted at the fact that in many cases these apps appear to be designed to track users and invade users privacy. Why else do so many need access to contact lists and more when their functionality doesn't remotely require it.
LiquidFlux 11y ago
I think it's more likely related to the forums which advertise the Tapatalk application, via a forum plugin.
pyre 11y ago
Even Google violates this though. Google Inbox is a good example of this. Compare Google Inbox in Chrome Mobile vs. the native app.
drzaiusapelord 11y ago
Actually I see this as a monetization issue. As site visitor all I have is your IP address and typical user-agent stuff. That doesn't get me much money. In the world of apps, I can fool you into giving up your location (or on android just sample it as needed without the end user knowing) and other privacy stealing tricks I can resell to advertisers and marketers. I can also embed ads right into my application and have IAP to make even more money. Until the mobile platforms fix these issues, there will be a financial incentive to push apps over pages. That's the elephant in the room here.

roasm 11y ago

You're suggesting that you can make something as usable on a mobile browser as you can with a native app. That's just not true; if it were, there wouldn't be any native apps. For many use cases (games, highly interactive experiences, camera or microphone using app, etc.), a native app may just be better, and guiding users there might be a better experience and a better conversion funnel. Yes, you can make a website mobile friendly, but that doesn't mean it will be as good as the native app.

stcredzero 11y ago
Often, the native app is just as bad or worse! At least the just-as-bad native app didn't soak up your time and bandwidth!
- ianstallings 11y ago
  If that were the case no one would ever install native apps. But the reality is given the choice, most people will use the app. I know this is a fact because mobile is my bread and butter. But if you need some evidence just go look at any of the analytics data that's out there. The majority of time spent on mobile by a user is using an app, with a much smaller percentage of time using the browser.
  - stcredzero 11y ago
    Most apps are ok, or at least no worse than the browser. Some are way worse. In no case does the interstitial take into account your momentary cost/benefit for downloading/installing or if the app is any good.
click170 11y ago
> You're suggesting that you can make something as usable on a mobile browser as you can with a native app. That's just not true; if it were, there wouldn't be any native apps. In the context of forums though, its entirely true and accurate. If we were talking about apps, as in things that require more than an internet connection to work, I would agree with you. Just because you can make it an app, doesn't mean you should.
moblesque 11y ago
>> You're suggesting that you can make something as usable on a mobile browser as you can with a native app. http://mobile.weather.gov/ http://mobile.weather.gov/ would disagree with you.
neoCrimeLabs 11y ago
It's absolutely true that a native application can be more functional than a mobile friendly website. When it comes to websites that try to force their app upon you when visiting their mobile website, my experience has almost always bee n the application is as bad as, if not worse than, the website's functionality. This gets to my point that if your developers are not capable of building a decent mobile friendly website then they are probably not any better at building an app. Also I hinted at the fact that in many cases these apps appear to be designed to track users and invade users privacy. Why else do so many need access to contact lists and more when their functionality doesn't remotely require it.

LiquidFlux 11y ago

I think it's more likely related to the forums which advertise the Tapatalk application, via a forum plugin.

pyre 11y ago

Even Google violates this though. Google Inbox is a good example of this. Compare Google Inbox in Chrome Mobile vs. the native app.

drzaiusapelord 11y ago

Actually I see this as a monetization issue. As site visitor all I have is your IP address and typical user-agent stuff. That doesn't get me much money. In the world of apps, I can fool you into giving up your location (or on android just sample it as needed without the end user knowing) and other privacy stealing tricks I can resell to advertisers and marketers. I can also embed ads right into my application and have IAP to make even more money. Until the mobile platforms fix these issues, there will be a financial incentive to push apps over pages. That's the elephant in the room here.