It is no secret that mobile apps are becoming the new phenomenon among businesses worldwide. Not only do they offer convenience, but they also provide content optimization, something company websites cannot offer on the mobile device. If you have read my past articles and blogs on this subject, I am a strong proponent of native apps over HTML5 or responsive design websites. To be completely transparent, I founded an IR app technology business called theIRapp (www.theIRapp.com) that may taint my objectivity a bit. However, there are specific reasons why we at theIRapp chose to create a native app versus HTML5 or a hybrid approach. I want to use this opportunity to explain some of the clear differences between the two.

In the BI article, a claim is made that it is “more likely” HTML5 will take the cake over native apps. A chart in the article shows native apps only getting credit for “rich user experience and performance” and “monetization” purposes. What the article fails to explain are those crucial factors that should be considered when choosing between native and HTML5. HTML5 is listed as a “winner” when it comes to the ability to immediately update and distribute content. But is this really the case? The article also suggests a benefit of not being controlled by Google, Apple, Amazon or Samsung. But is being part of the Apple and Google world really a bad thing? A very important thing to know – HTML5/responsive design websites are not apps. They do not exist in the App Store or Google Play with the millions of others who have chosen native over responsive design.

Native apps offer push notifications, which allow for instantaneous alerts – HTML5 does not. Native apps provide offline viewing and listening capabilities – HTML5 does not. Native apps, as a result of the ability to allow for offline downloading do not always require Internet connectivity – HTML5 websites do.

The BI article also suggests that native apps are necessarily costly. I guess they can be, but so can everything. There are turn-key app solutions on the market that allow organizations to have all of the benefits of a native app but at a fraction of the cost of hiring an independent developer – theIRapp is a case in point.

Looking into the future, native apps will allow for conversations to take place between businesses and their targeted audiences – so much will be able to take place within the native app ecosystem as I refer to it. HTML5 optimized websites will always be what they are – a website where a company talks at its targeted audience.

Despite my reaction, the Business Insider article was important in that it demonstrates that there are different solutions available for companies to consider when looking to incorporate mobile into their businesses. It is important for businesses to understand the full landscape of what exists in the mobile world before investing.

A final thought: Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg recently revealed in a Tech Crunch article this past February that Facebook made a mistake “betting too much on HTML.” LinkedIn just launched its latest mobile app and made a significant switch from being web-based to fully native. I am a gambling man, but would not bet against Apple, Google, Facebook and LinkedIn.

The choice is yours.

As this infographic shows, investors overwhelmingly rely on their mobile device for their work over their desktop computer. These results show the significance of mobile devices to today’s institutional investment professionals. The numbers also bring the importance of having a mobile IR strategy into the spotlight. Mobile devices – and as an extension, the mobile IR app – are becoming the new investment communication standard.

The survey demonstrated that when it comes to their work, 83% rely on their mobile devices rather than the desktop.  The survey also revealed the following:

• 47% of investors said that the device type most conducive to obtaining information is an Apple device (iPhone, iPad or iPad Mini)
• 21% said the Blackberry was sufficient
•  7% rely on Android devices

With regard to devices provided to investors by their employers, 92% of those surveyed said they were provided with a mobile device by their employer.  Of those:

• 40% are Blackberry devices
• 22% are Apple devices (iPhone, iPad or iPad Mini)
• 2% are Android

Depending on the type of device provided by their employer, 68% also purchased additional devices to leverage the power of iOS and Android devices to do their work.  Of the respondents, 41% carry and use 2 devices (including the one provided by the employer) and 26% carry and use 3 devices (including the one provided by the employer).

Well, as we all know, the world has significantly changed since 2008 from a technology perspective – especially with respect to social media and mobile.  Websites back then were the norm – now they are somewhat mundane.  Mobile devices and social media were nowhere close in development and proliferation to what they are today.

In my letter to the SEC, I stated that given what has transpired over the past few years with respect to technology, they needed to update their commentary on Reg FD so that future Netflix situations would not occur. I argued that new guidance was needed to incorporate and allow for the growing importance of social media and mobile technology in public company communications.*

Well, I received a response from the SEC’s Chief Counsel, Thomas Kim, dated February 26 (and surprisingly not a form letter) that said:

“Although the guidance we provided in the 2008 release is principles-based, and therefore applicable to new or different types of social media and mobile technology communications, we appreciate hearing your thoughts on additional guidance that may be helpful in this area.  In the event that we decide to update our guidance, we will consider the information you have provided to us.”

I am not sure what transpired between February 26 and yesterday, but kudos to Mr. Kim and the SEC for really considering the importance of social media to public company communications.  By essentially acquitting Netflix and condoning the use of social media, the SEC is finally working to be ahead of the curve and to strive to prevent the next Internet Bubble from bursting.

The SEC’s statement yesterday said the following:

“The SEC’s report of investigation confirms that Regulation FD applies to social media and other emerging means of communication used by public companies the same way it applies to company websites.”

This is a significant development for public companies and the investor relations industry.  While I don’t want to take credit for this development, I can’t help myself.

What does it mean?  It means that public companies should no longer refrain or be concerned about communicating important information via social media channels like Facebook and Twitter.  It acknowledges that social media is here to stay and that companies should not only acknowledge this but should embrace the importance of this relatively new medium as a way to communicate.  And it confirms that times are a changing and that even bureaucratic organizations like the SEC are willing to listen and can sometimes be provocative and amenable in embracing new ideas.

Notwithstanding this success, additional clarity and guidance is still required. But let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth.  As I did in my letter to the SEC earlier this year, I proffer thoughts on best practices on what a public company should do to ensure compliance with Reg FD when using social media:

• Indicate each of the means by which it intends to communicate in its most recent Form 10-K.
• For the dissemination of any material piece of information, file a Form 8-K and post material information to the investor section of its corporate website.
• Be consistent and utilize all of the social media channels so indicated in its Form 10-K.

While not formalized at this time, what’s to think that the above 3 bullet points might not eventually be incorporated into a future SEC statement?  The SEC clearly considered my thinking in their decision to exonerate Netflix.  To the extent public companies should now embrace social media as part of their IR strategies; they should consider the above as a safe haven when doing so.

*For a copy of my letter to the SEC and SEC’s response, please email jcorbin@theirapp.com

Vertically speaking, investor relations, too, is global.  It no longer should be considered regional especially for those companies on shoestring IR budgets.  Because of mobile technology, investors are able to consume information anywhere, at any time and on anything.  Similarly, mobile devices allow companies to connect with investors from parts of the world that they never before would consider connecting with.  Recognizing what is happening in technology and how people are communicating with each other, investor relations professionals should start considering, if they haven’t already, how to factor the platform of the mobile device into their IR plan for the years to come.

As all IR professionals will agree, the goal for public companies is to provide transparent and easy access to critical company and financial information.  This should apply to companies regardless of which global exchange they trade on or what language they speak.  Leveraging cross-cultural communications are companies including PR Newswire and CNW Group, the premier newswire services in the U.S. and Canada.  Both have recently incorporated into their service offerings the investor relations app platform of theIRapp™.   As many Canadians speak French, theIRapp™ and CNW offer companies the ability to have an IR app both in English and in French. Tim Griffin, VP of Product at CNW, said that being able to reach shareholders where and how they want to be reached is a key component of any company’s shareholder communications strategy, and providing shareholders with an app in their native language is the most streamlined, easy-to-launch solution to do just that.  IR apps are also now available in Spanish and Portuguese.  A Hebrew version is soon to be released by theIRapp™ for companies that trade on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange as well as the many issuers that have done primary and dual listings on U.S. exchanges.

To facilitate the transmission of public company information to investors throughout the world, mobile strategies are beginning to replace online/desktop strategies. Developing nations throughout Africa, for example, are leapfrogging the costly infrastructure required of hard wired Internet that powers many desktop computers in developed nations. Rather, they are relying upon mobile to advance their citizens’ ability to conduct commerce and integrate into the 21^st Century.  Michael Saylor in his book, The Mobile Wave, suggests that mobile technology is and will continue to allow for individuals and companies who previously were cut off from modern society, to engage and compete.  What an exciting time we are living in.

According to the World Bank, the number of mobile subscriptions in use worldwide has grown from fewer than 1 billion in 2000 to over 6 billion now.  Of these, nearly 5 billion are from developing countries.  According to African Information Solutions (“African Is Cool”), the Zimbabwe and Zambia markets have compelling and interesting reasons to require mobile solutions.  Recently, Africa is Cool partnered with theIRapp™ on a smartphone application that allows African stock exchange traded companies to have their IR content available via mobile. Graham Young of Africa is Cool said that having an IR app enables listed company clients to have a closer relationship with top investors throughout the world who previously wouldn’t even have known these companies in Africa existed.

Apps are an integral part of the information revolution currently underway.  More than 30 billion mobile apps were downloaded in 2011.  It is therefore no wonder that IR professionals are now considering native IR apps as part of their communications strategies.  Companies such as Colgate Palmolive, Walmart , Marathon Oil and Nestlé, to name a few, have IR apps available in the App Store and Google Play.  IR apps are a simple way for investors to engage with critical company and stock information. Apps deliver easy sharing of important qualitative content (e.g. audio conference calls, presentations, videos) that is company generated but up until now could only be accessed by going to a company’s website through desktop computing.

The world is quickly changing.  Opportunities abound.  And, this is in large part due to the advent of new technology, particularly mobile technologies.  Not only is mobile easy and cost effective, it is also fun and engaging.  From one IR professional to another, our industry should quickly get on board and take part in this exciting adventure.

Over the past year, theIRapp has gone global and signed seven new partners, including MessageBank, PR Newswire, Africa is Cool and Canada Newswire. In addition to a robust partner program with industry leaders, theIRapp has also welcomed over 20 new app subscribers including companies in the financial, healthcare, industrials, energy, consumer staples, consumer discretionary, information technology and utilities industries. Leaders such as Marathon Oil Corporation, Edwards Lifesciences, Newport Colgate Palmolive, Sysco Corporation and TSYS are just a few of the companies that have launched Investor Relations apps, powered by theIRapp, over this past year.

This is the year of the IRevolution. That is why, as part of our commitment to stay ahead of the curve, we continue to develop new functionality that will allow public companies to easily share information with their investors. Every quarter theIRapp has promised to launch new functionality to provide our subscribers and their investors with the very best IR app possible. We are currently in the process of rolling out version 4.0, which will go live before the end of March. We are also planning version 5.0 and a “master app” that will aggregate all the IR content companies want to make available to investors in a single IR app.

Be sure to keep an eye out for everything theIRapp has planned for 2013 by following us on Twitter and Facebook. And make sure you register for our March 13, 2013 webinar together with our partner PR Newswire to learn how industry leaders are embracing mobile investor relations. For more information on theIRapp, please visit www.theIRapp.com or contact theIRapp at info@theIRapp.com.

That’s why, as part of our work to help the IR industry understand and embrace new technology, we conducted a survey of how more than 100 IROs view the importance of mobile technology to investor communications and how they plan to use mobile technologies now and in the future.

Key findings from the survey include:

• 88% of IROs recognize the importance of mobile to their work as communications professionals and believe that public companies need to develop a mobile IR strategy in the coming year
• 57% of IROs believe investors now require faster access to IR content via mobile devices as compared to traditional sources
• 91% of IROs believe the same amount or more companies will consider publishing an investor relations app this year
• 67% of IROs think the SEC will react in the near future to the use of mobile technologies/apps for investor communications and for Reg FD disclosure purposes

These results clearly demonstrate that IROs from leading companies know investors want mobile communications. That’s why I believe it’s a very exciting time in the IR industry. There is a complete paradigm shift underway with respect to how people communicate with one other. To the extent mobile technologies offer companies the ability to push information and engage directly with investors via their very personal mobile device, the IR industry must consider and rethink how investors are now consuming information.

In or around 2000, the IR section of the corporate website was a nice to have and was unregulated by the SEC. Now it is an accepted means through which to communicate and every company must have one. Given what we have seen over the past couple of years with the proliferation of mobile, and as was confirmed by theIRapp’s survey, no one can question that mobile devices and apps are here to stay and just as the IR section of the corporate website is now a must have, so too will be the case with IR apps.

A debate exists over whether to go the Native App or HTML5 route.  The simplest point of differentiation between the two is that Native Apps can exist in the app stores of the well-known technology behemoths:  Apple’s App Store, the Google Play Market, Microsoft’s Windows Store and Blackberry World.  HTML5 apps are essentially websites optimized for mobile devices that cannot exist in these stores or markets.  (Click here for my whitepaper on the difference between Native Apps and HTML5.)

I am a gambling man, but I am not one to bet against Apple, Google or Microsoft.  While the jury is still out on Blackberry, the launch of its Z10 operating system confirms the importance of native apps to the future of business being conducted via mobile technology as well as to communications.  In its launch presentation, Blackberry made a point of highlighting what the Z10 means to its app market – the Blackberry World.  Apple’s App Store has almost 800,000 apps; the Google Play Market expects to have more than 1 million apps by June; and Microsoft’s Windows Store more than doubled its catalog of apps to 150,000 in 2012.  Blackberry World plans to have 70,000 apps as the Z10 becomes commercially available in the coming months and expects to expand this number exponentially.  The common theme among Apple, Google, Microsoft and Blackberry is that all of the app stores are comprised of Native apps.

In a recent post on Forbes.com, Aidan Quilligan of Accenture Mobility weighs the benefits of Native Apps versus HTML5 apps. Quilligan indicates that a main point of comparison between the two is one of cost, with HTML5 being more affordable from a development standpoint.  This is not necessarily the case with respect to IR apps since turnkey solutions like theIRapp™ exist. However, to the extent Blackberry has only now awoken and attempted to join the ranks of Apple, Google and Microsoft with respect to apps, public companies should think beyond short-term costs and consider the lesson of Blackberry and its Z10 operating system so that they can avoid finding themselves playing catch up in the future.

This new version incorporates Google Analytics into each IR app. Every subscriber will be able to use their content management system (CMS) to review daily downloads and average daily opens of their IR app as well as drill down into specific analytics regarding how investors are interacting with content on the app. In addition, V3.0 will also offer improved functionality including a loading indicator when the IR app is opened and automatic refreshing so that new content added to a company’s IR app is published immediately.

During Q1 of 2013, we will be launching Version 4.0 as well as an industry changing tool for the buy- and sell-side. To find out more about theIRapp and how we help companies make their IR content mobile, watch our demo of the iPad version of theIRapp:

A new vehicle through which public companies can communicate with investors is a mobile IR App available on Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Market.  By creating such a proprietary investor ecosystem with Apple and Google, public companies have the ability to communicate directly with an audience that constitutes almost 85% of the entire worldwide mobile market.

The question has been asked – will the buy- and sell-side download IR Apps for all the companies they follow?  Here are five reasons why the answer is “yes.”

1)    Improved mobile compatibility

Before the proliferation of Apps on the App Store and Google Play Market, investors and analysts had to open a web browser on their mobile device, wait for the corporate website to load and then navigate the small screen to locate and access the investor section of the site to find the investor materials they were looking for. In many cases, the desired content would be inaccessible due to flash requirements and other compatibility issues, not to mention sluggish Internet access. Native IR apps solve the issue of mobile compatibility. They offer investors instantaneous access to content such as conference calls, press releases, SEC filings and other valuable information.

2)    Easy Navigation

Given the small screens of iPhones (even the iPhone 5) and Android phones, if developed and designed properly, native IR apps can make for the easy navigation of IR content on all mobile devices.

3)    Push notifications

Advancements in mobile technology allow for the “pushing” of information.  When downloading a company’s IR app on the App Store and Google Play Market, investors have the ability to opt-in to receive alerts when a company posts a new piece of content to its IR app. Therefore, within seconds after a press release hits the wire or an SEC filing is posted to EDGAR, investors and analysts who have downloaded the IR app will know about the event.  They no longer need worry about the clutter of email or inadvertently being left off a company’s email database.

4)    Audiocast Conference Calls

Unless an investor or analyst is able to participate live on a company’s quarterly conference call, they are relegated to their desktop to listen to the archive.  Almost all public companies make the archive of their conference calls available via Windows Media Player or Adobe Flash.  These file formats are not compatible with Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android platforms and therefore cannot be accessed on these mobile devices.  With an IR app, companies can upload the equivalent of a “podcast” allowing investors to listen to the calls anywhere at any time.

5)    Qualitative investor information

While financial apps like Bloomberg’s and Yahoo Finance’s already exist, these apps only provide the numerical and quantitative data available via stock and other electronic data feeds.  They do not provide qualitative information such as a company’s investor presentations, fact sheets, marketing and sales information and company videos.  It is this information that adds color to a company’s IR story and helps investors and sell-side analysts better understand what is taking place within a company’s business.  IR apps allow companies to provide their investors with this important information.

theIRapp is the only investor relations app building solution that allows corporate entities to optimize their IR content for iPhone, iPad and Android mobile devices. Under the new partnership, PR Newswire, and its Vintage Filings division, will offer publicly traded companies the ability to have their own investor relations app on Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Market. Integrated directly with the CMS of PR Newswire’s investor relations website solution, IR Room, IR departments will now have a single-step workflow to simultaneously update both their browser-based and mobile smart-device shareholder communications.

Though the IR industry hasn’t had many new technology developments lately, we are committed to supporting the industry in the continuous development of new functionality that will allow public companies to stay ahead of the curve in how they share information with their investors.

The IR Room App, powered by theIRapp is available both within PR Newswire’s investor relations packages and as an independent product offering. Click here to request details and a price quote.