The most necessary need today – it is a need for comfort. Online shopping, food delivery services etc. cultivated the biggest exaltation of “home convenience” during the pandemic. Giants like Amazon and Walmart, eBay, and others have shown that online shopping is a great way to purchase and sell a wide range of products. More organizations are realizing how important it is to have an online presence. They hire independent freelance developers or turn to the software development agencies and pay them an agreed amount to create a website or mobile application or convert their old webpage into a more modern one. Businesses are looking for experts in this area more than ever.
Apps are a great tool for communication between company and customer and much more enjoyable for both. Apps extend an expanse to portable and mobile gadgets’ ability to provide seamless expansion of the scope with which companies can serve to consumers online. App development services companies can provide different services within these types. Not only create a web app/site, but optimize your existing one, or help with regular maintenance. Let’s simply go through these services.
What are the types of custom mobile app development?
There are three types of mobile apps: Native, Hybrid, and Web. Let’s quickly go through them.
– Native Mobile App Development Service. Native mobile apps are designed to be “native” to one platform. So, they fit a specific operating system like iOS, Android, Windows etc. You can perform with the same functions, design, but it will be different programs. Development process takes more time and budget. If you’re looking to create a complex and unique mobile app, an app development approach will be your best choice. Native services are faster and use less battery power and memory. WhatsApp and Spotify are one of them.
– Web Mobile App Development Service. They are adaptations of sites, scaled to fit the different screen sizes of mobile devices. However, they are not allowed to access the hardware of users like native ones. And need to be downloaded and installed. Facebook and Pinterest are examples of web apps.
– Hybrid Mobile App Development Service. It is something between native and web apps. They have limited access to hardware and need an internet connection to download content. But the design does not adapt to different screen size, which affect performance speed. At the same time, it saves time and resources. These services operate on a small amount of information. The most famous examples are Gmail and Twitter.
– Cross-platform Mobile App Development Service. Cross-platform app development allows creating solutions for both iOS and Android at once.
How to find your mobile app development service company
To find your perfect mobile app development company you should pay attention to a few things, or, better say, steps to choose “that one”:
– Goals and budget. Think about how much money you are willing to invest to reach your goals. Are you looking for an Android app development company specifically or software agency?
– Cooperation model. What type of cooperation would it be: Time & Materials or Fixed Price payment contract? The company of your choice may follow one of the many payment models such as dedicated team, time & materials, fixed price, hybrid or else.
– Reviews and recommendations. There is a lot of platforms such as Clutch, GoodFirms, where you can easily check the rate of a company, its size, main technical focus, etc. Also, a company has a list of clients who can describe their own experience of work with the team.
– Start your app development team. Hire the team, which specializes in your business niche. They will bring the exact solution you need because they know how it works.
– Set KPI. Define Key Performance Indicators which will adequately assess the effectiveness of a particular member of a dedicated team.
App development services: how to define your cooperation model and cost
Before searching for an app development team, you should define your project size.
There can be different levels of complexity:
– A simple one. It includes building a simple app or developing the existing one by integrating additional features.
– Medium level. It includes creating a web app, online store, and everything that requires integration of other solutions such as CRM, CMS, various databases, AI chatbots etc.
– Large-sized project. It requires a bunch of sophisticated technologies and integration with cloud hosting servers to store all user data and process it in real time. That is ecommerce stores or social networks building processes.
According to your business demand, you can choose the most suitable cooperation model:
– Dedicated development team (a team of developers who work on a project over a long period).
– Team extension (one or more software developers who have the specific skills required for a project).
– Managed team (one or more developers that can augment your in-house development team on-premises or remotely).
– Outsourcing (delegating your work to an entity outside your core team).
The cost of outsource app development team services
As mobile phones began appearing everywhere and development exploded, apps became increasingly more advanced. While the first apps mainly displayed information based on inputs supplied by the user, many of today’s apps can intuit the user’s needs and provide information even before being prompted to do so.
So, what is the app development services pricing?
The following are the most critical aspects that influence the final cost of developing an app:
– Type of vendor and location.
Note: Once you outsource app developers under the Outstaff model, you pay them a monthly salary like regular staff members. As for a dedicated team or a project-based working model, you can choose among the following options:
1. Fixed price. It would be a good option for a small project with limited budget and estimated time to complete it. This paying model suits new-born startups which need to develop an MVP. However, it is tough to evaluate the project scope initially due to the human factor. For this reason, most of the dev companies prefer working on the next model.
2. Time and Material. This payment model, also known as Pay as You Go, is prevalent among companies that use Agile methodology. You agree upon the hourly rate of each developer, and you pay based on the actual time spent on the development. It would be a good option when it is hard to determine the scope of work in advance and the client needs to change the requirements during the process.
– The number of app features and their complexity
– The infrastructure of backend and APIs
– UX/UI design complexity
– Methodology for development (native, mobile web, hybrid, etc.)
– The number of platforms that will be created (iOS, Android, web, etc.)
This is an approximate list of factors affecting the custom mobile app development price. However, do not forget about some “hidden” costs. Often, they are not taken into account in the rough estimate, but this is a mistake. Unexpected expenses can be: marketing, maintenance, security of the program and its production, servers, hosting, and others. In addition, you will likely have to make changes in the middle of the development process, which also costs time and money. Consider all these nuances when estimating mobile app development cost.
Mobile app development cost estimate
The formula for calculating the approximate estimate for mobile app development is straightforward: development cost times the hours spent on the project. But what is the final time/price?
If your budget for the first app version is limited, you have three choices:
– Decide on specific characteristics ahead of time and stick to the strategy. If you stick to this rule, your scope of work will remain the same, as will your app development costs.
– Pay more fees – expect your app development prices to rise as your app’s functionality expands.
– Drop functionality – you can prioritize app features with your development team. For instance, you may need to restructure the scope of work to include all necessary features while staying within budget limits.
The best Android app development services companies in 2023
Let’s talk about exploring trends among mobile app development services companies.
1. 5G access. Fifth-generation wireless technology is an on-demand app development service nowadays. The main advantage of it is speed. 5G is capable of operating at 100 times the speed of most existing networks. Its features could prove valuable in many areas of healthcare, for instance, which is the next step in medicine. 5G can be used in telehealth, remote surgery, transferring large medical files, tracking patient movements inside facilities.
2. AR & VR beyond gaming. These technologies are no longer solely for gamers; they are rapidly expanding to other industries, including travel, real estate, and retail.
3. Artificial Intelligence (AI). Companies, especially those in the insurance and financial sectors, can use AI and machine learning not only to improve user safety and data security but also to help spot fraud. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are the hot trends in the cold chain world too. They can interpret the data collected by IoT sensors, generated by GPS trackers, packaging data loggers, and manually-entered data.
4. Blockchain. This is an immutable, secure data ledger used to store, protect, and share essential product data. It may be used as the only source of information about the goods and their movement. Mobile wallets and person-to-person (P2P) payment apps are increasingly using blockchain technology to improve transaction speed and security. It is estimated that 68 million people currently have blockchain wallets.
5. Wearables. They can fulfill a range of functions, from voice activation for phone calls to helping people keep track of the number of steps they take each day or even monitor heart irregularities.
