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Intro
Many organizations taking their first steps to implement a mobile strategy are facing an important
decision that will influence the results of this initiative. The process of choosing a development
approach for a mobile application, namely native, web or hybrid, entails many parameters such as
budget, project timeframe, target audience and application functionality to name a few. Each approach
carries inherent benefits and limitations, and finding the one that best addresses the organization’s
needs could be a challenging task.
The purpose of this whitepaper is not to identify the best development approach, as such does not
exist, but rather to list the pros and cons each carries and describe the different scenarios, or enterprise
requirements, that best fit one or the other.
Introducing the Approaches
Native Applications
Native applications have binary executable files that are downloaded directly to the device and stored
locally. The installation process can be initiated by the user, or in some cases, by the IT department of
the organization. The most popular way to download a native app is by visiting an application store such
as Apple’s App Store, Android’s Marketplace, or BlackBerry’s App World, but other methods exist and
are sometimes provided by the mobile vendor.
Once the app has been installed on the device, the user launches it like any other service the device
offers. Upon initialization, the native app interfaces directly with the mobile operating system, without
any intermediary or container. The native app is free to access all of the APIs that are made available by
the OS vendor and, in many cases, has a unique look and feel that is typical of that specific mobile OS.
To create a native app, developers must write the source code (in human-readable form) and create
additional resources such images, audio segments and various OS-specific declaration files. Using tools
provided by the OS vendor, the source code is compiled (and sometimes also linked) in order to create
