Mobile apps have become an essential part of many types of business, both service, and product-based. With mobile apps, we can entertain ourselves and others, perform financial operations, sell and buy goods, get useful information, perform complex tasks, etc. They make everyday life easier and are a big part of our lives, so no wonder that their number grows every day.
Elegant design, helpful features, intuitive navigation – these and many more are the characteristics of a user-friendly mobile application that provides value for the customer. While these aspects may seem rather obvious for an application to have, it takes time and rigorous work to develop it in a way that will balance both business and customer needs.
The price for a simple app can start from around $25,000 and go up to $850,000 for high-tech complex apps. It’s understandable that not all businesses are ready to invest such a sum of money in mobile application development, so they look for the options to cut down the cost.
The cost and the quality of mobile app development are closely connected and, if you are going to try to reduce it, you should remember not to trade it for quality. Going after the cheapest option may even cost you more when bugs in the code appear or the project requirements are not met.
So how can you save costs without losing quality?
Consider Outsourcing
Especially in the case where you don’t have an in-house software engineering team, outsourcing can significantly help you to reduce the price of development. Depending on your budget you can consider independent contractors, domestic and offshore outsourcing firms without sacrificing the quality of the final product. You can get experienced and well-reputed firms with an extensive background in software development for a significantly lower price.
When it comes to outsourcing, one of the biggest problems that can arise is communication. If your company is not in the tech industry and you are not really familiar with the development process and terminology make sure that you have a team manager or an intermediary who can “translate” your project to developers and ensure smooth communication between both parties to avoid misunderstandings.
Software development outsourcing is becoming more and more popular thanks to the variety of agencies increasing professional levels of software engineers and improving communication between agencies and the client.
Make a Simple App
When analyzing your project requirements and the final project, consider if you really need additional complex features. Not only will it increase the price and time of development but it could make it more difficult for users to enjoy your app.
When developing a mobile application, you need to keep your end-user in mind at all times. The app is designed to solve a certain problem in the least time possible and provide value for the user. Additional features may increase that time and make navigation tricky. Remember, if you keep it simple, you can’t go wrong.
Use Open-Source Solutions
Choosing the right framework and development strategy is pivotal for successful mobile app development. Using an open-source framework lowers the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) so that you can invest more into customization and implementation.
Open-source frameworks also provide better access to innovation and the best technology. Developers can download and test the existing open source and make a decision if it is a good fit for the particular project and if they can experiment with components.
Global companies such as Oracle, Google, and Microsoft support Open Source projects, which provides access for a large number of developers in the community as well as smaller companies.
Use a Hybrid or Cross-Platform Framework
Cross-platform app development is a popular way to develop mobile applications that are compatible across mobile platforms. That gives businesses access to various segments of users with different devices and helps to increase market share when the application is released. It also allows timely app development and faster time to market so that customers can get access to it as soon as possible. Combined with lower development cost and easy deployment, the cross-platform framework becomes an attractive option for businesses that want to develop mobile applications at a lower cost without losing quality.
Mobile applications play a huge role in business development nowadays and provide an alternative form of user access than websites and classic newsletters. The current generation is inseparable from their phones which makes mobile apps a perfect way for a business to reach its target audience.
No matter how simple or complex your mobile application is going to be, it is important to think about the interests of the end-user, the value that your app will provide and the problem that it will solve. Based on that information you’ll be able to create a balanced plan for development without sacrificing price and quality and ensure that your app is a success.
