Mobile apps are the best way to capture the vast market, which is rapidly going mobile. Right from ordering food, booking a flight or cab, the consumers can address their every single need through their smartphones. The adoption rate of mobile apps is rapidly increasing, and so do the demand to build a mobile application.
According to Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Mobile app development Platforms, the minimum cost of mobile app development is less than $25,000 per year. And it can be as high as more than $100,000 per year for some enterprises.
Gartner characterizes the initial annual licensing cost for mobile app development platform excluding the actual efforts to build an app. Still, many factors cannot be ignored before developing mobile app development.
If you want to fill the gap between your brand and consumers, then there can be no other option than building a mobile app. You must be wondering how much does mobile app development cost? In case you are considering to develop an inexpensive mobile app that makes sense, then you need to understand the know-how of a mobile app first.
Factors affecting the cost of mobile app development
Mobile apps are the new way of earning money for most of the businesses. Similarly, they serve the significant purposes of marketing, convenience and reach out to a massive base of audience. Many factors affect the development of mobile apps, and so do they affect their costs.
Nature of your business
Your business model is the critical factor deciding the total cost of your mobile app development. Whether you have a startup, or a giant e-commerce company, selling products or just serving the consumers, offering paid or free apps, the nature of business is the center of your mobile app.
If your business is eCommerce, you need to invest more capital due to the complexity of the app. For fin-tech apps, you need to focus on security as your users have to store their confidential information in your app. The entertainment app needs to be more intuitive and engaging without creating any hindrance in the user’s entertainment.
Mobile app technology
Usually, there is three central technology for building mobile apps. You can choose from Native apps, web apps and hybrid apps.
- Native apps: they are created for one specific operating system. For example, you can have a Native Android app, or you can have a Native iOS app, and so on. You cannot mix and match like create a Native blackberry app for android phone.
- Web apps: Web apps are responsive versions of the websites that can be easily accessible through a mobile browser. They adapt the user interface of the mobile apps to provide seamless user experience to the visitors for all screen resolutions.
- Hybrid apps: they are a combination of Native apps and web apps. They look like web apps but feel like native apps. They have their icon, and the users can easily download them from an app store.
For creating a mobile app, you need to decide the technology, adopted by your targeted customers. You can even consult with the mobile app development to discuss the pros and cons of these technologies and their costs.
Platforms for apps
After selecting the technology, it is time to figure out the platform on which you are going to launch your app. You can decide between Android, iOS, Windows, Web or all together. The answer to this depends on where your customers are. The cost of creating mobile apps for different platforms is also different.
Functionalities of the App
With the advancement of technology, there are no limits for the mobile app developer to program the applications. The contribution of latest technologies enhanced the functionalities of the app, and the cost can go up to a few hundred dollars to thousand dollars. Here’s diversification of apps according to their features.
- Simple apps: This is a mobile-optimized version of the website and will generally list out in various categories, including all necessary information about your business. It is an inexpensive application which does not require any hassle to develop.
- Dynamic apps: The dynamic apps need to have a dedicated server to gather the information from the app. You can take the examples of apps based on Facebook. The dynamic apps work along with the operating systems and through the APIs. Such kinds of apps are very complicated and can result in significant variations in terms of cost.
- Gaming apps: Gaming apps are the most complex apps to develop and yet the most expensive also. The cost can skyrocket when the app is combined with the latest technologies like AI, VR and other 3D techniques.
Conclusion
Finally, the time and cost of mobile app development rely on the complexity of the app. It isn’t effortless to come to a total investment for any app because of the numerous and subjective determinants.
About Author:-
Nikunj Gundaniya, Product manager Digipay.guru, one of the leading Digital wallet solutions, which provides mobile finance application development services. He is a visionary leader whose flamboyant management style has given profitable results for the company. He believes in the mantra of giving 100% to his work.