I was reading another article in the great native vs. web discussion.

And then I thought: native apps are all fine and dandy, but how many companies can actually afford to maintain a mobile application? In Belgium some banks and some newspapers have apps, there are some hobbyist games, and I know a few indie developers.

And that’s where it kind of stops. Any other app I can point to hasn’t been updated since its original inception. There are many apps in the me-too camp before the companies behind them realised they couldn’t keep paying the agencies to maintain them.

I believe the only way it makes sense to have an app is if you are a) a software company or b) have a big enough business that you can afford to eat the development cost of the app (e.g. a large bank).

Over and over I always hear “we’ll do a native app later” but it never actually happens. I’ve seen it happen once with a very specialized app that needs a specific hardware function. Other than that, every company I’ve worked for for the past couple of years still has their web software going, and didn’t make a native app.