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Are Apps going to become technological dinosaurs?

By Brian Bennett, Wednesday, 24th July 2013 | 0 comments
Filed under: UX/Design, Web Development, SEO, Responsive Design, Social Media.

Are Apps Dying out?Are Apps Dying?

I was at a course recently and the speaker mentioned that she believed that apps were dying out; I was a little in shock - but she made a good point and over the past 5 weeks the comments of “Apps are dying out” have been ringing in my ears and I've changed my opinion too. I too think that apps are dying out. In this blog I’m going to explain why.

Why?

Very simple, they take up too much space, you should be thinking of an alternative. Think about all the apps you have on your phone and how much spare they are taking up. The main question you need to ask here is "what a you getting from visiting the App versus visting the website?". Examples like the BBC, Facebook and Twitter apps give you much the same experience as their apps, only without the push notifications and extra memory being used.

Apps are great for games and a super for push notifications but I think people are going to start valuing space on their phones more and more, especially if your new operating system is taking up more space than the old one.  

The Solution

Bookmark the relevant pages to your home screen that do the same thing as their app. I’ve done this with BBC, Facebook, Twitter and even AIB; to name just 4.

So what are the alternatives to the app?

1. Mobile websites Solutions - Mobile and Responsive Design

We’ve mentioned mobile sites in the past (m. or .mobi websites) – they can be used by businesses to display limited/specific information on a mobile device or tablet. They are a separate (2nd) website to your main website; this does mean you would have to update two websites content. The bonus is that they are designed to work specifically for smaller devices. 

A good example of some very functional mobile websites would be Motoserve.ie website and the AIB website. The functionality never changes so they don’t have to keep them updated all that often. In the case of Motoserve they have a link back to their full Mobile Friendly Website.

2. Responsive Web Design

To me Responsive Web Design is the present and the future all wrapped into one. A website that automatically changes its appearance based upon what device it is being accessed on! Genius. It displays the same content on every device, one website; optimised for all devices. Responsive websites give their visitors a better user experience; they keep the same SEO and same content throughout. Updating your information for one site updates it on all devices.  Responsive Web Design - The Future

Responsive Design is effectively futureproving your website. Your website will be ready for any new devices that Apple, Android, Windows or any other company launch onto market. It doesn’t matter if it is a phone, tablet, laptop or desktop your website will already be optimised for future handsets and tablets etc..

In Conclusion

The app is not dead yet, but certainly with the advances in Responsive Web Design over the next 12 months you’ll see more and more businesses designing their website in this way. It is cost effective and will save you money in the long run. I think that in the not too distant future the majority of websites will be responsively designed; don’t get let your business get left behind.

If you’re interested in speaking to us about Responsive Web Design or any type of web design please feel free to contact our sales team on 01 2990655 or email sales@webtrade.ie.

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