So you’ve decided that you want a mobile app for your business. Excellent decision. Now what?

You realize that apps have become an important way to maintain your brand awareness. You also know there are many options for getting that app developed.  Have you thought about how you want it developed?  This is an important question because not only will it affect the final cost of the application but it can have other consequences as well.  This decision may impact the platforms that it can be deployed on, and it can impact the features that you are able to include in the application.

There are three main ways in which to have an app developed: 1) Fully native code, 2) Adobe Air, 3) HTML 5/CSS/JavaScript.

Each of these three has their advantages and disadvantages and it’s important to choose the development methodology that will benefit your business most.

It boils down to the questions

How many, and which platforms do I ultimately want to deploy on? What platform is my audience on? How important is time to market? How critical is native functionality?

Fully Native Code

Some apps can only be built using native code because they require specific functionality not available to the other development methods.  This ultimately depends on your specific requirements.  Native code however has some significant advantages.  It can be highly optimized for performance in that environment and it can take advantage of specific functionality not available to the other development methodologies.

Adobe Air

Some people have stated that flash is dead.  That is incorrect.  Although support for flash on mobile is not going to continue like before, the flash platform, and specifically Adobe Air, are very much alive.  Flash remains viable on the desktop (where it has recently been improved to handle advanced 3d graphics bringing consoloe quality gaming to the browser), and Air for Mobile is impressive and will retain continued support from Adobe.  One significant advantage that Air has over the other two methods of app development, is the ease with which applications can be deployed to multiple platforms.  An Air app can be deployed to the desktop, Android, iOS, TV etc, quickly, while retaining a consistent look and feel.  With the addition of native extensions it has been extended to include more and more native functionality.  For the right applications, deploying on Air makes a lot of sense.

HTML 5/CSS3/javascript

This is an area of continual improvement.  Although the tools here are relatively new, it is a perfectly acceptable way to publish a certain segment of applications.  However there are some disadvantages.  These types of applications are dependent on the browser capabilities of the mobile environment, namely webkit.  This can affect performance, and in general these types of applications do seem to perform a bit more sluggishly.  This however is an exciting area of development to watch as the tools will continue to get better.

Conclusion

Although the number of options (and questions they raise) may seem daunting, an expert can help you to make a smart decision.  The questions I asked at the beginning of this post should help you to examine your needs more closely.  Mobile apps are incredibly exciting, and can create a fantastic bond with your company and customers.  Together you can help create memorable experiences that your customers will love.