Last week, AdAge released a poll today asking subscribers to vote on the following:
Are marketers wasting online budgets by focusing so much on apps rather than the mobile web?

Background:
The love affair between marketers and mobile apps is in full bloom, but the obsession with apps and the niche market they represent is coming at the expense of the mobile web, which is exponentially bigger and starving for brand dollars. Nearly 20% of U.S. mobile subscribers used a downloaded app in January, according to ComScore, but that audience is spread across myriad devices. The largest app category, iPhone apps, at best only reaches 25% of smartphone users — a fast-growing segment that represented 42.7 million Americans in January, according to ComScore. Compare that to nearly 30% of all mobile subscribers that used a phone’s web browser on any device accessing the internet, from iPhones and BlackBerrys to Android phones. What’s more, phones will overtake PCs as the most common device to access the internet worldwide by 2013, according to a study from information-technology research company Gartner.

Results:

My take is 50/50. In some instances NO as Apps are another consumer touch-point that when done right can be an entertaining and educational experience. Take Coca-Cola Company’s Spin The Coke,

a good example of branded entertainment but an even better example of integrating into the digital life of their customers.

The other half, YES, like Mt. Dew’s AMP energy drink who took .apping to a whole new and crude level with AMP UP Before You Score.

For the whole story behind this iApp debacle click here.

Conclusion, digital content is a marketers reality. Today, Tomorrow, and for the very distant future. Join the revolution Comrades, join or be irrelevant.