Jason Grigsby – Keynote: Native is Easy. Mobile Web is Freaking Hard!
Web Directions Unplugged 2011, Seattle, May 13th 3:50pm.
Presentation slides
Session description
No one who advocates for the mobile web wants to admit it, but it is true. Native is easier.
It’s easier to sell to stakeholders. Easier to monetize. And most importantly, easier to implement.
Argue about programming languages, memory management and reach all you want. There is one undeniable disadvantage that the mobile web faces that native apps don’t–over a decade of legacy code, cruft and entrenched organizational politics.
But the web is essential. Even companies whose businesses are centered on native apps need web pages to sell those apps. We can demonstrate time and again that a web-based approach is a smart investment.
So how do we sell mobile web projects? How do we work with the systems we currently have to build compelling mobile web experiences?
And most importantly, how should we be changing our web infrastructure, tools and workflow for the coming zombie apocalypse of devices.
About Jason Grigsby
Jason Grigsby was one of the project leads on the Obama ’08 iPhone Application and helped design the user interface for the Wall Street Journal’s Blackberry application.
Jason is a co-founder of Cloud Four, a small start-up focused on mobile web development. He founded and organizes Mobile Portland. Jason is currently co-authoring Head First Mobile Web for O’Reilly Publishing. The book will be available this winter.
Follow Jason on Twitter: @grigs
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