Today at the Econsultancy powered JUMP conference, Rob Grimshaw, the managing direction the Financial’s Times’ website FT.com, gave a truly fascinating presentation on innovation and creativity within a heritage brand.
But what had me the most interested was hearing that the Financial Times’ application is not available in the Apple Store or in the Android Market. Why? Because it’s browser based, thus rendering the name “application” a bit useless. However, instead of dismissing this “app” because of its inaccurate name, I actually think the FT are on to something.
Grimshaw explained that FT have developed a HTML 5 powered application that lives at app.ft.com because, simply put, they think it is the best move for their business. Not being confined to the walls of the Apple Store means they don’t have to worry about abiding by Apple’s Terms & Conditions and giving a third party 30% of their makings. Which from a financial stand-point makes pure, logical sense.
From a technical stand-point, a web-based “app” also makes sense. Building an app for different operating systems that are constantly changing and upgrading is potentially a steady financial drain, while building what a mobile-friendly version of your website in the latest version of HTML would appear to be a forward-thinking investment. Plus, there is a lot to be said for your "app", browser-based or otherwise, being independent from another company's guidelines and restrictions.
For online publishers, I agree with Grimshaw and the direction the FT have taken with building a browser-based “app”. It makes both business and technological sense.
While apps for magazines and newspapers are beautiful, and will look gorgeous on devices such as the Kindle Fire, I’ve always wondered why we need an app for a publication rather than just a mobile version of the site. You can certainly make a mobile version of a website as beautiful and innovative as an app, so why aren’t more people doing that? It seems a bit short-sighted to just hop on the app band wagon, when making your website both mobile and tablet friendly makes much more sense
Now, obviously, apps for games and actual applications make sense. Yet, I wonder so many websites and web-based services like Posterous and Wordpress have created apps that are, once again, based on offering the functionality that should very well be available on a mobile version of the site.
More online services and publications should be looking at the mobile accessibility of their websites, rather than simply building an app because it sounds good.