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IPhone/Andriod/WebOS App or a mobile website?

2 points by djb_hackernews ↗ HN
I'm developing a service that is targeted for mobile devices. I haven't done much mobile dev since J2ME and the Andriod emulator and I haven't done any mobile website development, so I don't know exactly what the pros and cons are.

What are the reasons why I would want platform specific apps over a mobile webapp? What functionality would I want in my webapp that I couldn't get at from a browser?

I like the approach of http://iqmobilesearch.com/ but my project is slightly more complicated.

4 comments

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dave1619
The advantage of an iPhone/Android/WebOS app is the marketing that you gain if you're high in the rankings for your category. Also, having your app as a native app on a user's phone give them more felt "ownership" of the app and the content. Generally native apps feel faster because you can speed up loading of pages through native controls and assets.
Concours
I prefer the approach of mobile webapps, I just set my webapp http://www.gmbhnews.com , over native apps, I have a broader reach (all smartphones) , and I can still create native apps later, I can also SEO my mobile webapp and have less competition than on Android/Webos/iphone, + developp one time and update one time for all platforms.