Apples and pears--Piers Lea considers the deployment of apps and responsive design within a mobile architecture

摘要

Over 76% of the 600 companies surveyed in 2011 by Towards Maturity planned to implement mobile learning in the next two years. The results of the 2012 Towards Maturity Benchmark Survey show an even heavier trend towards apps and mobile. Meanwhile, our own research within the defence, automotive and medical sectors indicate that because users tend to forge more intimate relationships with their mobile devices than their desktop PCs they are far likelier to use them for a variety of knowledge-related work activities, ranging from learning to fast information search. And mobile smartphones and tablets are not only becoming a major driver for the take-up of technology-supported learning and communications in large organisations, they are also widening the scope of what we can do. As organisations gear up to support this spectrum of knowledge-related activities, they find they have to make choices about their development route. Some would present this as a fork in the road, entailing a choice between a 'native app' route and the alternatives offered by responsive web design. But LINE thinks this is a false dichotomy, like comparing apples with pears. In truth, your mobile strategy may need to include both native apps and responsive design, depending on what it is you need to do.