Mobile App Development – What Should a Beginner Know?

Apps for Designers

A mobile app has emerged as the latest weapon in a marketing manager’s arsenal. It not only helps in rapid lead generation but also sustains existing customers, interest by fitting your value proposition on the small screens of their smartphones and tablets.

With these mobile apps, people are now accessing information, finding products and services, and even making purchases.

How Mobile Apps Help Drive Bottom Lines?

According to statistics, as of 2015, there are nearly 4.43 billion mobile users throughout the world, and in the coming years, this number is expected to increase exponentially. Apart from attracting new customers, a well-designed mobile app offering a great user experience also assists in increasing the conversion rate.

Looking at its tremendous impact and influence, a mobile application can safely be termed as a catalyst that can drive the user acquisition goals of a company.

By seeing the growing demand for mobile applications, many companies and enterprises are showing their propensity in designing their own apps which can boost their business by as much as 10x.

Though apps are very beneficial for users it is also true that the app development process is not at all a simple endeavor, a lot of intricacies unfold at every step of development. Hence, a company needs to employ top mobile app developers who can successfully accomplish the whole development process based on their experience and deep domain expertise.

What Are the Essentials to Take Note Of?

First off, you need to know about the different types of apps that can be made available for your business:

  • Native apps: These apps are developed for one particular mobile OS. So, an app developed for the Android ecosystem cannot be reused to develop an app for iOS and vice-versa. Most of video games are developed as native mobile apps.
  • Web app: A web app, in reality, is a mobile website that looks and functions like a native app. However, behind the scenes, it works like a traditional website, pages are stored on an Internet server and delivered to the user via the Internet. Needless to say, these apps cannot function without an internet connection
  • Hybrid apps: These apps are developed using modern-day technologies like HTML5 and CSS3. These apps reside inside a native container and utilize a browser engine for processing the HTML/JavaScript locally. An Android app development company will use a wrapper of an existing web page and transform it into a hybrid app. This brings down the development costs and time to market and still allows a business to publish an app on the app store.

Which One Is Better: Native App, a Web-Based App, or Hybrid App?

In a native app, you need to design the same app multiple times so that it can run on various OS platforms. Usually, native apps perform accordingly device’s features. Hence, companies are showing their interest in native apps.

While on the other hand, web-based apps (HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript) are cheaper and faster because you need to build only one app which can successfully run on different platforms.

You can go for hybrid apps when you know that your target market spans all the different mobile OS. In such a case, a hybrid app is your best bet for a better RoI.

While you are planning to design a mobile app, you need to remember the key points below-

  1. At first, you need to choose the platform (Android, iOS, or Windows) for your app development process.
  2. Then, you need to identify your target market so that you can get an idea of what your users will go to expect from your app. Then you need to think about your developers, capabilities i.e. whether they are going to meet the user’s requirements or not. You may go for in-house development or may outsource your project to some top-notch Android app development company or iOS app development company that is much more equipped than you.
  3. Allocate sufficient budget towards app development and go ahead only if the business allows it, as it will need an adequate investment of time, effort, and budget to accomplish the entire development and testing process.
  4. If you find that the same type of app already exists on the app store, then you should try to incorporate exclusive features into your app so that users are immediately attracted to the USP of your app.
  5. Once the development phase is over, do rigorous testing followed by a beta launch of an MVP.
  6. Once the app is launched on the app marketplace, then you need to promote your app on multiple marketing channels and different mediums to enhance its visibility.
  7. Don’t ignore customers, feedback because they will help you to make your app better.

These pointers will give very high-level information needed by a beginner to engage with an Android app development company and get a mobile app developed for his/ her business.

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