What To Choose: An Application, A Mobile Version Of The Site, Or A Responsive Design?

The number of mobile device users in the world is growing and, according to forecasts, by 2020, 6.1 billion people or 70% of the world's population will be smartphone users. This fact means that no matter what area your company operates in, it's time to start thinking about how to get closer to mobile users.


Several perspectives open before you:

• Development of a mobile version of the site
• Creation of mobile applications (for iOS, Android and possibly Windows Phone)
• Website design using responsive layout

Let's figure out what happens in each of these cases.

Website development for mobile devices

A mobile site is a specially created version of a site that users see when they visit your page using a browser installed on a smartphone or tablet. Unlike the main version of the site, the mobile version is adapted for viewing on small screens.
In the mobile version, the menu with sections opens on a separate page, and to view the products on the main page you only need to slide your finger across the screen.
It is interesting to know that the most popular mobile site in the US is Buzzfeed. It is followed by Answers.com, Wikia, Urban Dictionary, and Bustle. At the same time, the list of the most popular sites in terms of total Internet traffic is quite predictable:

• Google
• Youtube
• MSN
• Facebook
• Bing

Why does this happen?

The answer is simple: all of the top US websites have their own mobile apps that most visitors use. If you have a limited budget or your site is not a sales platform or social network, but simply contains brief information about the company, then the design and layout of the site for mobile devices will suit you.
But if your company sells goods and services over the Internet, is a news site or a social network, you should invest in native Android and iOS apps, because according to research, users spend 18 times more time on them than on mobile versions of sites.

Development of mobile applications

A mobile application is designed to meet the requirements and capabilities of a specific platform, such as Android or iOS. To use it, users need to go to the app store (Google Play or App Store), find it among others, and install it on their device.
If the development of mobile sites requires testing the final product in different mobile browsers, then when creating an application, you have to take into account that users are using different versions of the operating system.
The next difficulty is related to the appearance of the application. If the design of the mobile version of the site can be made almost the same as the site that users see in a regular browser, then the mobile patterns of the application for the site must meet the OS manufacturer's requirements for the user interface. This has its advantages: the mobile application looks more "native" to the OS and works faster thanks to the integration with the platform.
On the other hand, in defense of mobile sites, it should be said that it is easier to increase traffic with them. Mobile websites for smartphones win in terms of the number of unique users, but apps have more unique actions, which means, again, users spend more time in apps.

So what to choose?

When it boils down to the between a mobile site and an application, it makes more sense to have a separate mobile website and apps for Android and iOS if budget allows. This approach will maximize the coverage of the mobile market.
However, on-demand startups can get by with just an app. In this case, the website is replaced by a landing page that describes the main features of the service and encourages you to download the application.шаблоны для dle 11.2