The ongoing debate on whether HTML5 is going to bring the demise of applications is never-ending. Whichever of the two platforms wins will bring in the most advertising dollars.

Mobile Marketer?s Giselle Tsirulnik interviewed Ken Harlan, president of MobileFuse, New York, regarding his outlook on the mobile Web versus applications debate.

Here is what he said:

Will HTML5 bring the demise of mobile applications?
Interestingly enough, and according to a Pew Research Center's survey, 38 percent of the population in the United States already accesses the mobile Web, while only 29 percent use applications.

And, we have just started to see companies take advantage of HTML5. 

For the last few years, people used applications because they provided a better user experience for things such as gaming. 

With HTML5, the mobile Web experience has caught up to applications. 

I do not think that applications will go away since some consumers now have a habit of visiting the various application stores, but I do think that similarly to Web, consumers prefer to visit a site directly as opposed to downloading many applications, resulting in eventually having a majority of users using the mobile Web instead apps.  

What happens to Apple's iAd, which is dependent on the use of applications?
Apple is innovative and I'm sure they will come up with something. 

The biggest challenge that they have is they cannot reach all the different audiences that advertisers need to reach. 

Apple users are only a small segment of the overall consumer base.

A lot of people argue that in-app advertising is very engaging and that there are a plethora of creative possibilities, since ads can leverage the native features of the phone i.e. the calendar, accelerometer and so on. What types of creative possibilities does HTML5 present to advertising?
HTML5 will allow the mobile Web to better engage users in a compelling and expressive way. The biggest benefit is video. 

Third-party plug-ins (Flash) will no longer be necessary in order to play video. 

Currently, rich-media ads already allow for polling, data collection, social commenting and there will be new opportunities as things develop.  

If you had to pick between Google and Apple, who do you think will win in the mobile advertising ecosystem and why?  
Google already has a larger audience since they are not limited to one device. 

Plus, Google can also combine their strengths in search and display via its acquisition of Admob. 
The one component Google is missing is a premium mobile display ad network like Millennial, Jumptap and MobileFuse.  

What are the benefits of mobile Web advertising, when compared to in-app advertising?
The biggest benefit is reach. 

In fact, eMarketer reports that mobile users prefer using a browser to an app for researching product review, blogs, sports-related activities, news, video and local events. 

The only categories where apps were preferred were games, social and music. 

When using a game application, adds tend to disrupt the user experience and ultimately are not well received.   

What are some challenges of mobile Web advertising?
The buzz around apps has limited the information around the benefits of mobile Web advertising. 

I remember speaking with many mobile experts in 2009 when we started MobileFuse and mentioned we would focus on both mobile Web and apps because we thought mobile Web was the future. 

I can't tell you how many times we were told that we were crazy.  

Final take
Giselle Tsirulnik, senior editor of Mobile Marketer, touches on the great debate

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