Should Your Business Build a Mobile App?

• By AllBusiness.com
• On 8:00 am EDT, Monday August 10, 2009

We've all heard about the success of Apple's iPhone App Store and its 1.5 billion downloads in little more than a year. While Apple created the market, it's no longer the only player in town. Google's CEO Eric Schmidt has recently expressed his enthusiasm over the success of Android, which now boasts 10 carriers in 12 countries, 4,900 applications in the Android marketplace, and 40-plus application downloads per user.

There's no doubt the booming popularity of the mobile application has users and creators hungry for the next useful and relevant app, but with so many being created -- especially for the iPhone -- is it really worth the time and money? Should you build an iPhone-only app or branch out and offer users the benefit of choosing their own platform?

Before you answer these questions, you need to weigh the pros and cons of building a mobile app for your business. The following should help you make a balanced decision.

Pros

The success of Apple's App Store is overwhelming. And riding on the success of the App Store isn't a bad idea. For one, it's established. With such a large number of downloads each and every day, there is little cause for concern that the mobile app will be going away anytime soon. Plus, with talks of Apple producing a tablet in the near future, you can rest assured that Apple will be pushing developers to create new apps, which would market the Apple App Store to even more consumers whom will invariably be looking to fill their tablets up with applications.

There is the possibility of your product getting lost in the sea of apps in the store, but your idea may be just what people are looking for to figure out their day. Many in the tech world believe that application-based programs are the future of our mobile world and may become even more popular than Web sites somewhere down the line, due in part to advances in mobile high-speed connectivity.

Cons

With so many business applications in the Apple App Store, you have to ask yourself if the app you plan to build is really different from the others out there. Why would someone choose to purchase your app over one or a dozen others that do the same thing for free? Will it be able to take full advantage of the iPhone's advanced technologies? And even if you aren't looking to charge, is it worth the time and effort to place your app in the store only for it to get buried or possibly rejected within a few weeks?

Finding The Middle Ground

Although Google's Android platform and Sprint's new Palm Pre are cast in a significantly large shadow, they may be your best bet to get noticed by users on multiple cell phone carriers since there isn't the oversaturation of repetitive apps. Remember, Apple is still exclusive with AT&T for at least another year. By building an app for another platform, you will reach a whole new demographic and a whole new set of users. Of course, you could always build your app for multiple platforms.

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