Old story - non-techie has business idea but needs direction...
We have a service that would certainly lend itself to the mobile market - it assists consumers in stores select a specific product (I'd disclose the idea but it just might be good....even though we don't have a way to monetize it yet! - ever heard that before??). The key question is: do we create a iPhone application or a web site accessible to all mobile devices?
Advantages+/Disadvantages- of an iPhone Application (vs. web site):
+ Apple provide great exposure
+ The actual program is relatively simple, display is simple, small (will work on any mobile device...but obviously, the iPhone has more real estate to work with
+ There would be some minor costs associated with a web site - hosting, etc
- Possibly easier to find a web designer/programmer than an iPhone programmer??
- A mobile web site would be accessible to more users (if we can successfully promote it)
- It will have a data base of 4000 records or products (x 6 fields....I suspect the iPhone can handle that....but maybe not?)
- Ultimately, even if we went iPhone route, we would want a web page (mobile formatting)
- Cell service will be available from the locations a user would want to access the web site (i.e. no advantage to an iPhone application here)
? Unfortunately, there's really no user networking opportunity to build
? The data will remain fairly constant ...but about 10% (of the 4000 products) will change after a year...so it's still fairly usable for about 12-18 months w/o updating (slight advantage to a web site)
Any other key considerations in trying to determine if we go iPhone or web site formatted for mobile use?
We have a service that would certainly lend itself to the mobile market - it assists consumers in stores select a specific product (I'd disclose the idea but it just might be good....even though we don't have a way to monetize it yet! - ever heard that before??). The key question is: do we create a iPhone application or a web site accessible to all mobile devices?
Advantages+/Disadvantages- of an iPhone Application (vs. web site):
+ Apple provide great exposure
+ The actual program is relatively simple, display is simple, small (will work on any mobile device...but obviously, the iPhone has more real estate to work with
+ There would be some minor costs associated with a web site - hosting, etc
- Possibly easier to find a web designer/programmer than an iPhone programmer??
- A mobile web site would be accessible to more users (if we can successfully promote it)
- It will have a data base of 4000 records or products (x 6 fields....I suspect the iPhone can handle that....but maybe not?)
- Ultimately, even if we went iPhone route, we would want a web page (mobile formatting)
- Cell service will be available from the locations a user would want to access the web site (i.e. no advantage to an iPhone application here)
? Unfortunately, there's really no user networking opportunity to build
? The data will remain fairly constant ...but about 10% (of the 4000 products) will change after a year...so it's still fairly usable for about 12-18 months w/o updating (slight advantage to a web site)
Any other key considerations in trying to determine if we go iPhone or web site formatted for mobile use?