I run a motor sport news website and currently deciding if I should go down the route of paying someone to develop an app for a phone, in which case I would need something compatible for iPhone, BlackBerry and Android or if I should just spend time optimising my mobile website?
Would love to hear some thoughts of others on this!
This article seems to break down the pros and cons of each quite nicely.
If you want to support mobile devices in general, a mobile-friendly website should be the first priority. You will get the most reach with one effort.
Following that, if there is demand for an app for a particular mobile device, depending on the site and the purpose it serves, you could then look at building apps. This may involve multiple efforts to accommodate multiple device types (iPhone, BlackBerry, etc).
Developing apps can be cool, but it is far way more expensive, hence you will need different versions for Android and iPhone at least.
Depending on what kind of relation you want with your customers/readers you can decide between app or website.
If you just want your website to run in a more friendly layout for mobile devices, then I think a mobile version would be the best option, hence you can reduce costs and make your site available for modern devices with a good looking.
