Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Mobile first, desktop second (maybe)

Mobile computing has arrived, and is no longer a second-class citizen. In fact, it is the desktop that may be the second-class application.

A long time ago, desktop applications were the only game in town. Then mobile arrived, and it was granted a small presence: usually m.whatever.com, with some custom scripts to generate a limited set of web pages.

Now, the mobile app is the leader. If you are starting a project, start with mobile, and if you have time, build in the "plain" version later. Focus on your customers; for new apps, customers are mobile devices: iPhones, iPads, Android phones, and tablets. You can add the desktop browser version later, after you get the core running.

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