The successful development of a mobile application requires time, skills and, of course, a sufficient budget. This task is quite complicated, and even with a good team it is not always easy to do something worthwhile, since currently there are many applications and it is almost impossible to stand out.
Developers create hundreds of applications daily, both on Android and iOS. Some gain popularity, bring income and benefit to the creators. Others remain to work for a narrow circle of clients, not trying to spread widely.
The number of unique offers in the App Store and Google Play has exceeded one and a half million pieces. Now a person spends about 5 hours daily on a telephone. The current trend allows you to skillfully fine-tune your business and massively monetize the love of the Internet space. In addition to advertising, software for a smartphone creates the image of the company, provides information about the target audience and assesses the behavioral factors of customers.
The right architecture is the saving of your efforts, time and financial costs. In the world of mobile development, the main ones are two approaches to application development – native and cross-platform.
Native implies writing independent applications for each platform, that is, an iOS application and a separate Android application
Benefits of native applications:
Cross-platform approach – creating a common code base for two platforms with subsequent translation of the code to the operating system through a special layer. Although this method seems attractive, one application instead of two, but it also has its drawbacks:
Of the advantages of a cross-platform approach, we can note:
1. Business apps
Often, business applications are applications that are in great demand in a highly specialized field. Users receive convenient tools for managing business processes, the ability to receive discounts or information of the manufacturer / service company being tracked and easier to perform daily work.
A good example is the TextGrabber + Translator utility, which allows you to recognize text from an image and translate it. RoomScan Pro is a building program that recognizes the layout of a room thanks to the camera. Application for car owners or buyers – DashCommand OBD-2. When connected to the OBD connector, it reads and transmits information about engine or gearbox errors to the smartphone.
Popularity is achieved by performing the functions people need. The company receives income through the development of its own brand: a program on the phone will not let you forget about a recent purchase in an online store, or it will inform you about discounts in a boutique of dresses. Sometimes smartphones are used instead of bonus cards, without burdening the customer with wearing plastic.
2. Games and entertainment
Toys on the smartphone appeared simultaneously with the creation of the first one. This is a popular way to kill time in transport or relax during a break. Developers receive money through built-in advertising and microtransactions. A competitive environment allows the development of a minimum number of projects that receive money. Examples: Angry Birds, FaceAPP, paid Minecraft.
3. Social networks
Social networking applications are popular for their intended purpose: to create a field of communication between people. Chatting with friends, watching videos together, setting photos for rating and emphasizing your own status. These are social networks, and the best examples are Instagram and Facebook. A common feature of popularity: free downloads, and revenue is generated by integrated advertising.
4. Messengers
Now messengers are a huge number of users around the world who actively use the service every day. Messaging, group chats, use on work issues, as well as for transferring videos, images and documents – without them you can’t get anywhere for the current time. Standard messengers do not work in instant messengers, as in the same social networks as the type of monetization, so paid stickers and mini-games are a way to make money for them. The most popular now are WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber, Skype, WeChat.
Each type of program is monetized in its own way and has a specific target audience. To make the application profitable and popular, you need to decide on the initial development parameters:
Benefit depends on the type of activity and the desired result. Developing startups will be able to conveniently notify investors of goals and current achievements. Companies – create an image. Entertainment games and business ideas – sell ads or embed commercials.
If you cannot develop applications on your own, you will certainly have to answer the question: which specialist to choose? Should you hire a freelancer, a professional software development company, or hire employees?
If you are not a specialist specializing in software development, but want to start a new project or want to quickly test your idea, but you do not have your own team, it is better to contact a specialized company. Even if the development proves to be more expensive, you will get a better result with much less risk.
Often, many people wonder, “How much does it cost to maintain an application?” This is a rather complicated question without a definite and direct answer. It is not enough to know the exact numbers.
Creating a high-quality and error-free application in a short time is almost impossible. Therefore, developers often use what is called feature-oriented development (or another Agile methodology) to provide core functionality as soon as possible. Agile dramatically speeds up development and helps companies adapt to a changing market.
After launch, if the application is successful, the first thing to do is to collect feedback, to find information about errors, analyzing problems. Later, it is necessary to develop and provide new functions in accordance with the information received at the previous stage.
In fact, application maintenance is all that comes after the official launch. If you only develop a “lite” version of the application with basic functionality, will additional features cost maintenance?
Therefore, if you prefer to deliver the result first with Agile, maintenance costs can be much higher than prototype development costs. Many people prefer Agile, in case they can develop an application, prove or disprove the marketing hypothesis, earn the first profit in the shortest possible time.
Compared to Agile, when developing software using the traditional Waterfall methodology, you can calculate the average value of maintenance costs per year with a fixed percentage (about 15-25%) of the total development price. Large enterprises prefer Waterfall, because their business processes are documented, and management develops marketing, management, production plans.
We invite you to contact our company, a professional mobile app development company. The deadlines are adequate, do not chase the speed of losing quality.
Build your own iOS and Android app and help customers find you. Provide services, sell goods or entertaining content. And we will help to do this efficiently and professionally.
