Reasons to be Appy. Part 1.

Much has been written about HTML5. Some pundits claims will sound the death-knell for apps and app stores. Indeed, at first glance, the capabilities that HTML5 offers to any business considering app development are game changing.

HTML5 permits the creation of a rich, app like, mobile website, without the complexity that typifies platform specific app development. Instead of having to create different apps for different mobile devices, a mobile website built in HTML5, offers a ‘one size fits all’ approach. The result is considerable savings in development time and cost. And of course, HTML5 works with virtually any desktop or laptop device too.

But let’s take a step back and imagine a leading retailer decides to build the best shop ever. The shop’s got everything in it that anyone could ever want; it offers a customer experience nobody else can match; the products it sells are of the highest quality; and prices are lower than any competitor. Then imagine, this shop is located right in the middle of… wait for it… Rockall. That’s right, Rockall, the semi-inhospitable rock, in the middle of the North Atlantic with an ecosystem that can barely sustain any form of life, nevermind economic activity.

But what has Rockall’s first and only shop got to do with mobile websites? The answer is possibly more than you’d first imagine. Central to the success of any commercial enterprise is the ecosystem which sustains it. That’s why the busiest airports are found close to significant, permanent, populations. It’s why successful retailers tend to be found in city centres or adjacent to major arterial routes. Rockall of course doesn’t have a city centre, an airport, regular transport links or a permanent, nevermind significant, population. If the world’s best shop were on Rockall, it would fail.

Embracing an existing consumer ecosystem is a fundamental perquisite to success in any industry, which is why there’ll never be a shop on Rockall. It’s also why HTML5 is a technology that in itself is unlikely to seriously challenge apps and app stores.

Nobody disputes the technical advantages building a mobile site in HTML5 offers, as an alternative to contemporary app development.

But put simply, a stand alone mobile website, developed using HTML5, does not offer businesses the opportunity to plug in to a pre-existing ecosystem. By contrast, app stores offer precisely this and many other advantages too.

For businesses and consumers, app stores are rich ecosystems, which fulfill a number of purposes. They act as aggregators, pulling together disparate apps into a single location where consumers can find, preview, browse, purchase and download apps. An app store listing also reassures consumers that an app is quality assured and devoid of malware. And whilst some developers may moan about their ‘closed’ nature, for consumers, this is perhaps their greatest strength. They also allow consumers to provide feedback directly to developers and to rank similar apps on the basis of functionality, value and usability. Additionally, they facilitate quick and easy payments too.

It is almost impossible to overstate the significance of the ecosystem underpinning app stores. Gartner predicts that during 2011, there will be 17.7 billion downloads worldwide from mobile app stores – an increase of 110% on 2010, generating US$15.1bn of revenue.

Let’s remember, consumers aren’t being forced to use app stores; they want to use app stores. That’s why for many businesses, revenue generated through app store sales is their fastest growing income stream. It’s why companies such as Apple, Amazon, Google and Microsoft are investing billions in the development of App Stores, to the point of rolling them out beyond mobile devices to ‘mainstream’ desktops and laptops. And it’s why more and more consumers are choosing to spend their hard earned on downloading an app from an app store.

The principle of Plato’s Socrates requires us ‘to follow the evidence wherever it may lead’. When it comes to apps, if most businesses ‘follow the money wherever it may lead’, they will find themselves not landing on Rockall, but a click or gesture away from an app store.

HTML5 is game changing. It has its place. But HTML5 isn’t as a technology to break the dominance and appeal of apps and app stores.