Mobile First vs. Mobile Only Application Development

On December 4th, Engine Yard joined Burnside Digital and JuntoBox films to host a discussion on Mobile First vs. Mobile Only Application Development. The panelists covered a wide range of topics around mobile strategy including when you should go mobile first versus mobile only, what mobile means to businesses today, how mobile is changing customer acquisition and engagement, where to invest mobile efforts and more.

The panelists included Josh Brooks, founder and CEO of On The Run Tech, Sam Friedman, co-founder and CEO of ParkMe, Tom Kuhr, SVP of Product at Frequency, and Rachael McLean, SVP of Product at Junto Box with Omid Rahmat, president of Burnside Digital as the moderator.

From left to right: Josh Brooks, Rachael McLean, Sam Friedman, Tom Kuhr

Here are some highlights from the discussion:

• New devices with the newest technology will change the way an application is designed and how a customer will use it
• From a media perspective, it makes sense to focus on web and then move to mobile but that trend may change in the coming years.
• Developing for Android is harder as you have to deal with varying screen sizes and operating systems based on mobile carriers.
• The number of SDK downloads will shape future decisions on where to develop and on what platforms.
• For cross-platform development, active users should be the focus and not number of downloads

You can listen to the entire discussion here.