Alexander’s Blog

An interesting new topic seems to have emerged among mobile marketing afficionados in the wake of Steve Jobs recent iPhone apps success. The question is being asked whether applications for mobile phones will have longevity or if the real answer to mobile marketing bliss is the mobile internet?

This reminds me of the old and much quoted show down between Betamax and VHS. Remember those two video formats that brought the joys of movie home entertainment into our living rooms for the first time? Betamax was definitely better. In terms of quality it won hands down against VHS. But, as history tells us, it was VHS that won the battle of the formats.

How is that possible? How can an inferior product beat a sophisticated, well thought through quality one? Well, there are many reasons, and this scenario is by no means unusual. Just look at Microsoft versus Apple…

Einstein once said that “the only two infinite things in this world are the universe and man’s stupidity – and I’m not so sure about the former”. I agree, so human stupidity is definitely one reason.

But I believe that the main reason for inferior products beating their quality competition is simplicity. KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid (some say “Keep It Simple Safe” but I wanted to continue Einstein’s thought…)

Doesn’t this make a lot of sense? A new product, especially if it is somehow of a high quality, always excites at first, and if it is only because of the novelty factor. But in the end someone comes up with something much simpler that can do the trick as well. And that’s what the masses eventually go for.

This was true for Betamax versus VHS and it will be equally true for mobile apps versus the mobile internet. Apple’s marketers and spin doctors are currently milking the competitive advantage of their app store, and it is true that mobile apps are currently sexier than the mobile internet. But that won’t be like that for long. Once the mobile internet has overcome its teething problems, and it is doing so at lightening speed, it will beat mobile apps hands down simply because it is so simple!

Think of an app: it needs to be developed separately for each phone model, and new one’s are entering the market constantly. It needs to be downloaded and then sits on your phone, so there is a memory issue. A mobile internet site, or mobi site, on the other hand sits on an external server and can simply be accessed by every phone that is WAP enabled.

So just as VHS outclassed Betamax on sheer simplicity, few if any will bother much about utilizing apps to reach a mass market in mobile marketing soon.