If you are considering building your mobile channel, will you choose to build a mobile app or should you build a mobile Web site?

Before we get into the finer points of this debate, we can ask a few qualifying questions first:

1) Do you need to access the phone’s camera?
2) Would you like funtionality available regardless of whether the phone is on the Internet (online or offline?)
3) Would you like to access the phone’s contacts?
4) Would you like to access the phone’s location or other core features (e.g. accelerometer, bluetooth)

If the answer to any of the above questions is yes, then your choice is simple.  Build a native mobile app.  If you did not answer yes to any of the above questions, here are some guidelines you can use to think about this question:

Native mobile apps

• Pro: Access the phone’s core features (see #1-4 above)
• Pro: Faster user experience (apps can more easily handle caching on the phone client)
• Pro: Richer user interface and user controls (more dynamic/graphical)
• Con: You may need to build multiple apps — one for each device: iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Symbian

Mobile Web

• Pro: A single mobile Web site may work on multiple phones (through each phone’s browser)
• Con: May be slower (more latency)
• Con: Less attractive user experience
• Con: Cannot use phone’s core features
• Con: Cannot work online/offline

There are some who believe that a new browser technology (HTML 5.0 and CSS3) will enable the mobile Web to become more competitive with the user experience of a mobile app.  This may narrow (but not close) the performance gap in the future.  In the meantime: If you choose to build a mobile Web site, you’ll spend less money and potentially reach more devices with a single solution.  If you choose to build a mobile app, you can take advantage of more features and capabilities on the device, the location of the user, etc.

There are two other trends to keep in mind:

1) Smartphones (can run mobile apps) will overtake feature phones marketshare in 2011.
2) 74% of smartphone traffic is on iPhone or Android

According to AdMob, if you choose to build mobile apps, iPhone and Android will enable you to reach 74% of mobile users as of Feb. 2010.

HTML5 may be the biggest innovation in browser technology since… perhaps Netscape.  It’s really a game changer.  I was fascinated to read that Google will be sunsetting Gears in favor HTML5 , though it makes sense given that one of HTML5 coolest features is that it’s designed to support the sometimes connected computer.  This means that you’ll be able to continue to interact with Web sites or Web/SaaS applications when you’re offline, they will sync up when you’re back online.  Google implemented Gears for that purpose, but when HTML 5.0 is available, it will support that.  We’ll soon be able to take advantage of the Cloud even when we’re offline.

(Incidentally and ironically, I write this while flying at 35,000 feet on a wifi connection, so fortunately those offline pockets will become fewer and fewer in the future!)