Smartphone Apps vs Website - iPhone & Android for Browsers

Google knows that open is the winning strategy in the new economy. It has opened its Android operating system to the world. Android supports Adobe's Flash, Ajax and Java and is open to thousands of developers.

By contract Apple iPhone will not run Flash which significantly limits reach. 40% or more of website use flash and many more use other non sanction services (30-40% of all website use flash in Opera survey). These websites cannot be displayed on iPhone. Apple maintains that we all want apps and they will come to an IPhone near you soon.

Open Browsing for anDroid iPhone

Do we all want apps? Apparently 80% of travelers browse and only 20% have downloaded an app. See Compete survey. I don't believe the industry will put up with this idea that every Smartphone phone must have its own app. That worked when there was only iPhone. With Android the game has changed. Check out the latest Motorola Droidx 4.3 inch display, but that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Much more innovation will follow and I don't bet on Apple being able to keep pace, especially as it restricts developers, platforms and has this crazy idea that everything must be an app that conforms to its standards and must be sold only its its apps store. A rather sorry place to find anything and that is only going to get worse as more apps hit the shelves. That why only 1/5th of smartphone travellers use apps. See the readwriteweb article.

Their are pro and cons to creating native apps for iphones and Smartphones vs developing smartphone ready websites.

In favour of websites. Websites have an entire industry and history behind them Website are quicker to deploy and have better support. Website avoid the Apple Approval Process which is not well understood and seems erratic at times. Websites are easy to update and their are many development skills supporting this market. Website are available to all Smartphones

In favour of apps. The iPhone smartphone native app has access to all of the smartphone technology and features. The website will not have easy access to all native functions and may not have the sophisticated user interfaces of an app The app store is a good shopping arena if you are charging for your app. This however is changing and the new tourism apps are going to be free. The store will not make you money so it marketing clout and payment options are going to diminish.

The best of both. We recommend a strategy of deploying smart websites based on the an open platform with a longer term view to deploying apps for advanced guest services. We have outlined a strategic marketing plan for the hotel and tourism operators marketing travel on the Smartphone mobile. You may see this at http://websites.smartphonetraveller.com and in the resources below.

Hotel branded, rich text websites can be created automatically by entering content, rates, photos and availability etc into the arcRes online publishing system. This is then publish to a iPhone and Smartphone readable website, not an application. THe benefits are that it is universally accessable by all Smartphones, easirer to maintain and fully integrated with your marketing.

Look around the net for good direct marketing application for hotels and tourism operators. Our own SmartphoneVacationspecial is also listed in the resources. Their are others like StayHip, Smartstay and many competing service such as modify.me and Wapple that will allow you to create an online Smartphone Mobile website.

Migrating to the smaller world of Smartphone mobiles

1. Online Mobile Servers

Some mobile advertising site like "platform.freemobi.me" allow small companies to enter info into a online form and render this into a mobile app or website. The hotel is then asked to advertise on that network. Mobilise.me is a similar but more elaborate service that allows you to grab elements of your website for display in a mobile device. Wapple is another solution in this area. Our own http://website.Smartphonetraveller.com is a smart alternative, easy to use and because it can also do bookings and publish to Facebook and other channels it is in a class of its own.

Many of the offers in this category are complex and not suitable to hotel managers who don't care to be technicians.

2. OTAs and third part services like Facebook

The issue I have with Expedia and all OTAs is that they do not build your brand-. Its a good part of the marketing mix and if you are already on Expedia your products will no don't get displayed in the Smartphone channel. Its is however not a strategy for smart phone marketing where direct contact with owners and local activities is the essences of the experience.

Many Web2.o website services like Facebook, Foursquare and even Word Press (more of a blog but still qualifies) now have a Smartphone Publishing capability. These are interesting services but they are not integrated with hotel and tourism marketing and cant easily be reverse engineered. arcResBookings for Facebook is a smarter approach as it integrates from the back office of the hotel to distribution channels including Facebook - For more on this see Strategies for selecting Mobile Partners

3. Travel suppliers

Companies like AXSES are first to harness the data they have stored for travel suppliers in their own content management system. These are excellent Direct marketing solutions that will help you build your brand and generate direct business without having to pay commission or merchant fees. These are good solution as they builds on a foundation and understanding of the tourism landscape - systems can be integrated with travel distribution and channel marketing.

4. Speculation

All these option require setting up data and rendering it into a new format. Its probable unavoidable. But if i were Google i would be thinking - how can we just do this conversion on the fly. To some extent that happens with the scrunch. But what if Google could understand the content and make the decision how to display it.

What if Google Chrome could morph any website and make it fit any Smartphone display - Now that would be helpful! Just need to be able to use Chrome on any Smartphone. I dont think Apple would go for that - But it could do it with their own OS the Snow Leopard! Can the Leopard loose its spots!!

That time may come - but maybe not in this decade. Their are already attempts at this and I noted recently that a hosting company in the UK is offering a hosting solution that includes a Mobile version on the website. I doubt that this will be automatic. The automatic system i have reviewed so far just do not do the job. Bring on the future!

All may not be roses in the word with out wires!

As we move forward rapidly into a wireless world, we have another thread looming over the internet as we know it. The Internet and the World wide Web was conceived as a fully open system. It is a neutral system based on the principle "that advocates no restrictions by Internet Service Providers and governments on content, sites, platforms, on the kinds of equipment that may be attached, and no restrictions on the modes of communication allowed" Wikipedia.

But wireless was not conceived as part of the web and is not inherently tied to this principle. The fear is that telcom and wireless providers may want to leverage their pipeline and oblige subscribers or suppliers to buy services at a premium.

Sounds familiar? It is rather like restricting access to apps according to your rules and at a premium instead of making everything available and a bit like saying java is not open anymore

Consumers beware! your web freedom may be at stake!

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Research Notes/Links

"61.6 million Smartphones were sold in the second quarter of 2010, as compared to just over 40 million in 2009, with the biggest change coming in operating systems. Android overtook Apple's iOS for the number three spot worldwide and passed Research In Motion's operating system to take the number one spot in the U.S" see Gartner .

Recent statistics from Compete show "while about a third of Smartphone owners use their devices for travel-related activities, only one-fifth of all Smartphone owners have installed travel apps on their devices yet". see Readwriteweb link above

An opposing View: "Why flash should not be on iPhones/Smartphones/" Roughtly Drafted

Adobe said it expects its Flash software to be supported in 53 per cent of the more than 300 million Smartphones expected to ship in 2012.

This article is based on research at AXSES

Please visit us at http://smartphonetraveller.com.
Look for resources and research for more like this.