Launching on Mobile vs Web vs Desktop?
Can anybody share their experience launching products on these platforms?
I've seen success stories in mobile, web & desktop but people don't tend to talk about the specific reasons why they decided to launch in these platforms.
From what I've seen the most popular thing is developing your product as a web application. This makes sense because HTML/CSS/JS is the first tech stack most developers start learning. It's also very easy to share your product, it's an open platform (no need for Google & Apple to accept you) & you don't have the the Google & Apple cut on your revenue.
However, there are people that simply don't enjoy web development.
In Desktop, people tend to pay more for software, especially if you compare it to mobile apps. Do Desktop apps on Mac receive the Apple cut? What about Windows desktop apps, do people actually buy things there? Would love to hear experienced people talking about the current state of desktop applications.
Finally, you have mobile apps, way more popular in the past (I still see people with amazing products & crazy MRR tho). There are some cool advantages like access to native mobile APIs and if Apple & Google accepts you, you have a huge amount of potential customers. The downside is that you have the Google & Apple cut and it seems like a saturated market.
How does someone decide the platform where their product should be launched? What's the current state of these platforms from your perspective?
Great question that you're asking... the answer should lies in your niche and customer base.
It's easy when you're thinking of something like a mobile game... obviously that's mobile. But for something less clear like a budgeting app, then the decision is harder right? Well it all depends on what you're going for and who your customer base is.
Most likely, you should start as a web application.
In most cases you're going to cast the widest net by launching via the web. There's really no reason to niche down into mobile unless the competition is so large that you need to find a niche there or your customer base is there.
That being said, complementing a successful SaaS with a mobile app can be very powerful. Most people won't get to that stage though, but it's something to think about down the road. Once you launch on the web, you're not limited to only the web. However, if you launch on mobile it's much harder to go back to a web based product.
Some food for though here. Hopefully it's some things to think about!
Great answer 👍
Very valuable advice! 👍 I have more experience in desktop & mobile but web is something I consider important. After I do market research I'll decide but yeah the answer usually is launching on web. Although I have recently seen many macOS software stories.
As always: It depends on your product/niche.
As I know you are more into AR/VR things I really can‘t imagine something outstanding without using native iOS APIs as Apple is really pioneering this field (just have a look at all those APIs they are adding in September with iOS 15)
Kyle already said some valuable things, though! I want to speak about one powerful topic he didn‘t cover: Discoverability. If you don‘t have an huge audience on the web, the App Store can really help you out (sometimes). For example I know some people becoming App-of-the-day which lead to 100k+ downloads (without really doing something to achieve that, they were just developing a great app). And even without becoming App-of-the-day, Apple introduced some really great discoverability mechanisms in their recent iOS updates (just open the App Store on your phone).
One more thing: Tech Stack. If you are using the right stack (e.g. RN or Flutter) you don‘t have to decide between those platforms, you can cover them all with one codebase if you really want to. Just start with the web and if you think you can have an audience on native, too – Just try it.
An amazing answer! I have developed a few things with Flutter & you can access a few native APIs on there too. So yeah that would be a great path to go.
I also want to try developing with a JS framework, React specifically. But everytime I encounter CSS is a nightmare hahahaha. I've seen Tailwind, Bulma, Bootstrap and many other CSS libraries but it still seems confusing sometimes.
What are the usage patterns and behaviors of your potential customers? Where will you reach them, and what are their expectations? What are the key differentiators of your product - a super slick, custom, hyper-efficient user interface tightly integrated with the operating system? If so, then you should go native. Just as an example.
Start with the customer, then look at the technical solution.
Thank you! I was trying to get a general sense of the 3 platforms so I was just looking for people's opinions & perspectives. What can you tell me from your point of view? Have you launched products in all of them?
It was a long time ago, but I started out my "indie career" by doing shareware for Windows, distributed via website. Selling serial keys for $5 to unlock all features in the app (or game). (...this was about 20 years ago so... web wasn't as mature then as of now...)
In modern times, one is an app (not really an indie project) because that is the usage pattern we're after - "always available, instantly" (as the opposite of having access to a laptop). The other one was B2B, web-based, desktop-optimized.
Hope it may add some perspectives to the reasoning.
That's awesome, it definitely helped! Thanks a lot.
Just my 2 pennies...
Without knowing what problem you are trying to solve for users, there is no way to help.
But let's assume you did post details... Then do you believe while detailing your project that there would be a "need" to express any value on *web, mobile... * ??
My point being why bother asking, just wait until customers give supporting data to stress this topic. Build a MVP and focus on "mobile view" so that you only focus on small space to super focus your tool.
The real answer should be "build for web". Any dev worth their weight knows web apps are designed "mobile first" and use rwd (responsive web design) to knock out both mobile, tablet and desktop. PWAs even allow the same code to be bundled for Google play store.
React also has a tool to bundle the code into iOS/Android specific source code.
Now the default answer is: "whatever platform is easiest to launch the MVP". Maybe you don't know how to code and need to pick a path...
But there are so many utilities to help that I wouldn't stress it.
Just make sure you build it and stay focused on making only one main part work flawless before adding features. Hope this helps
First, I'm a software engineer. Second, as you can read from my questions I was just asking people to share their experience/perspective on these platforms. Third, I wasn't looking for any specific advice on a problem so no need to specify any details.
Thank you for taking your time to answer.