Chaotic ups and down in strategy are among problems in smartphone app development discussed in an INMA report.

Smartphone app lessons for media companies presents the trials, tribulations, and aspirations of media companies trying to make smartphone apps work for its most loyal readers.

Nineteen vignettes show media companies in Asia, Europe, the Americas and the South Pacific aiming to sync smartphone app plans to their local digital ecosystems. The report covers reasons for the focus on smartphone apps over mobile web and the "work-in-progress thought process" on which apps to develop.

Some 23 apps being developed are discussed, with reports of "chaotic ups and down in strategy" and the reasons for prioritisation.

INMA says smartphone apps have become the top platform for media companies to deliver value to its most engaged and loyal readers, but says the money is slow in developing.

Executive director and chief executive of INMA, Earl Wilkinson says the report's value is less in the smartphone app results than the discussion, debate and struggles to fit smartphone apps into a media company's bigger digital strategy.

"The results are uneven across companies," he says.

Wilkinson says the report injects INMA members into the heart of discussions at peer media companies: "What you come away with are ideas, benchmarks, goals and a lot of new material to bring into strategic discussions. With so many apps being developed the past three years, it's illustrative to see the ideas that are surviving."