Article About App Development Ignores the Obvious

Publishing Executive has posted an article about different app options available for publishers. Sadly, they neglected the most obvious choice: using your digital edition provider. While it’s obviously self serving for me to point this out, here are a few reasons why you should probably consider that option first:

1.)  Single vendor/workflow. Assuming you already have a digital edition, do you really want to introduce another vendor to your mix, particularly since your app readers will almost definitely only be a fraction of your digital edition readers?

2.) Single set of analytics. Well, at least I hope so. Here at Nxtbook, your browser and native app readers are combined for reporting. Do you really want to combine analytics from multiple sources?

3.) A single set of sponsorship options. Assuming you’re looking to monetize your audience, do you really want to deal with another set of sponsorship specs to send advertiser content to?

4.) This native thing, more and more, appears to be a passing fancy. While this last statement is up for debate, we’re one of many vendors who feels that in the end, the browser will win. That being the case, that’s where our energy continues to go, even while we ensure our native apps work for readers, publishers and advertisers alike. And if you believe in the future of HTML5, we’d suggest you focus your energies on the browser as well.