Today, more consumers access the Web using mobile devices (1,050 million) than by any other strategy, even by PC (1,000 million). The Internet is no longer restricted to a personal computer and a web browser. Running on a mobile device, the web has become an always-accessible entity with countless life-enhancing features: the iTunes app store; GPS; gaming; Email; camera; contacts; photo albums: your life, anytime, anywhere.

Even the field of home computers is developing rapidly with the highly interactive Nintendo Wii or Microsoft Xbox, which will radically change media entertainment centers. Companies are increasingly incorporating video conferencing technology into their workplaces and providing staff with mobile devices that put the office, from client emails to meeting reminders and on-the-go web research, at their fingertips.

While 84% of mobile Web users access the Web at home, 87% of people who own Web-enabled mobile devices access the Web every day. Now is the perfect time to create an innovative and compelling mobile strategy. As mobile phone functionality and accessibility increase, so does the suitability to make your mobile product more comprehensive. When expanding your brand online, you can’t ignore the mobile Web; chances are good your customers are already looking for you on their phones.

Development of your mobile plan

There are 2 completely different schools of thought on mobile app development. In Part II, two leading developers offer some advice on these contrasting development philosophies.

Sean Christmann supports a universal approach, allowing the maximum number of users to access an application on their preferred mobile phone.

John Blanco, on the other hand, believes that developing an app in a native language or platform-specific (sometimes called “native”) offers a better overall user experience and is more likely to be adopted by the masses.

Before making a mobile strategy, it is important to understand that different mobile phones speak different languages. For example, iPhone apps can connect to a cell phone’s hardware, allowing rich local apps to use GPS, multi-touch, and accelerometer and display content from any web browser except Flash content. While Flash is the leader in web animation technology, mobile apps don’t support it.

Some smartphones may have similar hardware capabilities, for example GPS, but can only handle Flash Lite, a lightweight version of the platform. Others might only be able to display HTML. Because the capabilities between mobile devices change, it is difficult to develop universal solutions. This has become especially challenging, courtesy of a market that heavily favors the iPhone.

According to NPD Group, the following were the best-selling smartphones in the US in the first quarter of 2009:

RIM BlackBerry Curve (all 83XX models)

Apple iPhone 3G (all models)

RIM BlackBerry Storm

RIM BlackBerry Pearl (all models except flip)

T Mobile G1

The problem is this: are you building an app that less than half the cell phone market can understand, or are you building an app that takes advantage of the full capabilities of the phone your audience is carrying? Or do you build two native apps in the BlackBerry and iPhone directions, which enjoy the best market share?

In the second part of this article, we will let the experts provide their opinions.