Web ~ Mobile Expectations
A recent HP report suggests that 25% of mobile app users will abandon the app after just 3 seconds of delay. This report recalled a similar report I read in 2006 from Akamai and Jupiter Research. In that report, their research showed that on-line web shoppers will wait just 4 seconds for a page to load before they abandon a retail web site. The similarities in these reports gave me pause. Are mobile app users transporting other web browsing expectations and habits as they transition to mobile platforms? If so, what can the mobile software development community learn from the past? What types of demands will be made of mobile applications? What mistakes can we try to avoid duplicating from the web world?
I am interested in knowing what others think? Are we about to relive the evolution of "Web 2.0" on a different platform? How will it be different this time? As a user of a mobile device (and presumably web sites too), how do your interactions with your smartphone or tablet differ from your interactions with a web site? Do your expectations of your mobile platform and apps differ from that of a web site? For example, do you have an expectation of more security or less security on mobile platforms? Do you expect to do more work or less work getting to information you need on a mobile app versus a web site? Does your mobile application lead you to a physical store front or is the mobile device/apps your storefront now? Will mobile applications have to be more personalized and interconnected (vis-à-vis “Web 2.0”) to meet your favor going forward or do you want there to be more privacy when it comes to your smartphone or tablet? Will mobile apps have to provide more content or more interaction (or both)? What are your expectations?
