Absurd? Impossible?
Consider this: When you use your mobile device (smartphone / tablet / other) to check the news, movie reviews, World Cup standings, price of your stocks, buy a birthday gift or check the weather what app do you use? Do you use Safari / Android browser or an app built with a specific purpose such as Instapaper, IMDB, ESPN ScoreCenter, Bloomberg, Amazon or WeatherBug? I'd bet that more and more of the information you consume and the transactions you conduct are via apps rather than Safari or the Android browser.
The web is, and always will be, a tremendous resource for research or when you don’t exactly know where you want to end up but for targeted information such as news, weather, purchases, paying bills, my primary tools are apps, not the browser.
Why?
It's simpler, cleaner, more efficient and more direct. If I use IMDB's app rather than IMDB's site to view ratings for a movie, I have less typing and tapping. I also reduce the risk of someone SEO-ing me into a site that I did not want to visit or allowing myself to get distracted into hours of endless surfing. Or, in the case of WeatherBug's site, I can avoid the animated advertisements for weight loss with someone grabbing their beer-gut. It is also cleaner because the format of the app is optimized for the device I am reading it on.
The way I consume information is changing as more of the places I visit release apps. Most of the reading I do and more and more of the transactions I engage in are via a mobile app. On a recent business trip I was able to check into my Southwest flight via the Southwest Android App. The app presented me with a handful of menu options where the Southwest.com site has dozens. I could have achieved my goal using the Android Browser or the Southwest app but the app was much easier to use while I was trying to pay attention to a presentation.
If you "buy" this theory and you also believe that the majority of internet access will be over a mobile device rather than a desktop device by 2013 (Gartner) then it stands to reason that App Stores and Markets will begin to replace the web as a portal for information and your company. i.e. consumers will search the App Store for an app before going to the web. The Web ends up being "Plan B".
Most mid to large sized companies have millions invested in their web presence but close to nothing (by comparison) in mobile app investment. I am not saying companies need to invest millions in mobile platforms and mobile-presence-management but they do need to prepare for this change and have a strategy that guides them along the way.
Study Access Methods:
Does your company understand how users access your sites? Which platforms or devices are your customers using? What’s the tipping point when mobile device portals (app or web) become the primary focus over desktop web portals? Is it when 30% of your access comes from a mobile device? 50%, 70%?
Manage your company’s mobile presence (think App Store SEO)
What does your presence look like to the average consumer on the web vs the Android Market or Apple App Store? Your company has spent considerable money to ensure when someone Googles “Harley Davidson” (or your company name) that the corporate sales site is on the top of the list rather than some blogger that has learned how to play the search engine game.
What does this look like in real life? Here is an example from Southwest Airlines and Harley-Davidson:
Southwest Google Search result: The first 6 listings are all Southwest Airlines corporate sites, driving business to Southwest. (click image to enlarge)
Southwest App Store search result (iPad): Entering the same exact text "southwest" resulted in the below results in the App Store on the iPad. Southwest Airlines is first in iPhone apps but appears after the iPad apps which essentially makes it 7th in the list. (click on image to enlarge)
Harley-Davidson Google Search result: The Google search for "Harley Davidson" results as we would expect with the top listings (top 4 in this case) being Harley-Davidson corporate sites. (click on image to enlarge)
Harley-Davidson App Store search result (iPad): None of the results are from the Harley-Davidson corporate so they have a large gap between their web and App Store presence. (click on image to enlarge).
Is there a gap in your company's web and app presence?
Try it for for yourself. Use an internet search engine then search using the same name from your iPhone, iPad, Android device. See if there is a difference then ask your Marketing VP if the presence in the App Store / Market represents the view you want a growing portion of your customer base to see.
Go International:
App developers can limit the distribution of their app to certain countries / regions. (At least I know this to be true of Apple and assume it is the same for Android) So, what you see in iTunes with your company’s name on it may be specific to your country. iTunes does allow you to change your country or you can use leaderboard sites like App Annie: http://www.appannie.com/search/ (Apple) or App Brain http://www.appbrain.com/ (Android) to search across App Store and Market and do some quick filtering by country. Plus browsers like Google Chrome allow you to do some quick language translation of the app descriptions to see what it actually does.
Try it out and report back. Do you think app stores will slowly replace web sites as a preferred method for information and business?
Consider this: When you use your mobile device (smartphone / tablet / other) to check the news, movie reviews, World Cup standings, price of your stocks, buy a birthday gift or check the weather what app do you use? Do you use Safari / Android browser or an app built with a specific purpose such as Instapaper, IMDB, ESPN ScoreCenter, Bloomberg, Amazon or WeatherBug? I'd bet that more and more of the information you consume and the transactions you conduct are via apps rather than Safari or the Android browser.
The web is, and always will be, a tremendous resource for research or when you don’t exactly know where you want to end up but for targeted information such as news, weather, purchases, paying bills, my primary tools are apps, not the browser.
Why?
It's simpler, cleaner, more efficient and more direct. If I use IMDB's app rather than IMDB's site to view ratings for a movie, I have less typing and tapping. I also reduce the risk of someone SEO-ing me into a site that I did not want to visit or allowing myself to get distracted into hours of endless surfing. Or, in the case of WeatherBug's site, I can avoid the animated advertisements for weight loss with someone grabbing their beer-gut. It is also cleaner because the format of the app is optimized for the device I am reading it on.
The way I consume information is changing as more of the places I visit release apps. Most of the reading I do and more and more of the transactions I engage in are via a mobile app. On a recent business trip I was able to check into my Southwest flight via the Southwest Android App. The app presented me with a handful of menu options where the Southwest.com site has dozens. I could have achieved my goal using the Android Browser or the Southwest app but the app was much easier to use while I was trying to pay attention to a presentation.
If you "buy" this theory and you also believe that the majority of internet access will be over a mobile device rather than a desktop device by 2013 (Gartner) then it stands to reason that App Stores and Markets will begin to replace the web as a portal for information and your company. i.e. consumers will search the App Store for an app before going to the web. The Web ends up being "Plan B".
Most mid to large sized companies have millions invested in their web presence but close to nothing (by comparison) in mobile app investment. I am not saying companies need to invest millions in mobile platforms and mobile-presence-management but they do need to prepare for this change and have a strategy that guides them along the way.
Study Access Methods:
Does your company understand how users access your sites? Which platforms or devices are your customers using? What’s the tipping point when mobile device portals (app or web) become the primary focus over desktop web portals? Is it when 30% of your access comes from a mobile device? 50%, 70%?
Manage your company’s mobile presence (think App Store SEO)
What does your presence look like to the average consumer on the web vs the Android Market or Apple App Store? Your company has spent considerable money to ensure when someone Googles “Harley Davidson” (or your company name) that the corporate sales site is on the top of the list rather than some blogger that has learned how to play the search engine game.
What does this look like in real life? Here is an example from Southwest Airlines and Harley-Davidson:
Southwest Google Search result: The first 6 listings are all Southwest Airlines corporate sites, driving business to Southwest. (click image to enlarge)
Southwest App Store search result (iPad): Entering the same exact text "southwest" resulted in the below results in the App Store on the iPad. Southwest Airlines is first in iPhone apps but appears after the iPad apps which essentially makes it 7th in the list. (click on image to enlarge)
Harley-Davidson Google Search result: The Google search for "Harley Davidson" results as we would expect with the top listings (top 4 in this case) being Harley-Davidson corporate sites. (click on image to enlarge)
Harley-Davidson App Store search result (iPad): None of the results are from the Harley-Davidson corporate so they have a large gap between their web and App Store presence. (click on image to enlarge).
Is there a gap in your company's web and app presence?
Try it for for yourself. Use an internet search engine then search using the same name from your iPhone, iPad, Android device. See if there is a difference then ask your Marketing VP if the presence in the App Store / Market represents the view you want a growing portion of your customer base to see.
Go International:
App developers can limit the distribution of their app to certain countries / regions. (At least I know this to be true of Apple and assume it is the same for Android) So, what you see in iTunes with your company’s name on it may be specific to your country. iTunes does allow you to change your country or you can use leaderboard sites like App Annie: http://www.appannie.com/search/ (Apple) or App Brain http://www.appbrain.com/ (Android) to search across App Store and Market and do some quick filtering by country. Plus browsers like Google Chrome allow you to do some quick language translation of the app descriptions to see what it actually does.
Try it out and report back. Do you think app stores will slowly replace web sites as a preferred method for information and business?
The "death of ..." predictions hardly ever pan out. Did movies replace theaters, did TV replace movies? Look back just a few years ago and we had an opposite prediction - "web browsers will replace desktop thick client apps". I am sure apps will become an important platform to publish content, but they will not replace the quick, universal, cross platform HTML accessible by all devices. Even Apple, being the top app distributor, is targeting HTML development as opposed to Flash, being the proprietary application development platform.
Thanks for the comment Oleg. While I agree that total replacement takes a long time and probably won't happen as far as the web goes I see a shift occurring and believe those who are spotting this trend and leveraging it are best positioned to capitalize on it or at least not be negatively affected by not managing their presence in these markets / stores.
- Mike