Smartphones have become a major necessity for every human belonging to any class, race, religion, nation or financial background. Which has directly impacted the mobile app development market. Initially, smartphones were costly and were considered as a status symbol, so the technology related to mobile apps were also limited.

Rise of Smartphone Usage

Source: www.statista.com

 But today, smartphones have become a necessity and with the advancement of technology and increasing affordability of the smartphone devices, the technology for mobile app development has also advanced a lot. There are two main technology stacks to be considered when going to target the smartphone market : Android and iphone.

Smartphones have become so flexible that they can take the place of almost any other electronic device. For example, most of the consumer base of OTT platforms access this platform using apps on their phone.

Another example is Kindle. What was initially launched as a standalone device, is now is the most used e-reading app. If a user has a smartphone with a large enough screen, then why would they spend it on a separate device? Today, web development has become limited and useful for a limited area only such as: Accounting, Payroll etc. If you want to garner the benefits of a large and young target audience, then you cannot ignore the smartphone market. Because, from sending email to booking a cab to ordering dinner, smartphones have become kind of a right hand for the young generation, and an increasing number of middle-aged people are joining them every day.

So, the smartphone audience today is not limited to only the younger generation today, targeting the smartphone market is the key to success for any project today. Today, the first criteria for every website is making it responsive. And when you develop a mobile app, you are catering specific needs of the smartphone users and you must ensure that it works on all major platforms such as Android and IOS.

Both technologies are quite different, and support of qualified and experienced developers is a must when it comes to making cross platform apps. This is a challenging market and at the same time has the most potential as compared to web development. Because, no one wants to make an effort to go to a website today, if they can access the services using their mobile in hand.

The technology for mobile app development is quite different from general web development, there are three main kinds of mobile apps : Native apps, Hybrid apps, and Cross platform apps.

Native apps: They are written in the local environment of the Android or iOS operating system. And do not need any API to access them.

Hybrid apps: They are written using popular web technologies and then run on the devices using API. They use both local Android iOS environment and latest web technology, that’s why they are called Hybrid.

Cross platform apps: They are written using the latest frameworks, but are compiled into native applications to run on the device.

Things to keep in mind:

Target Audience: As discussed earlier, the reach of the smartphone market is wide. But still, deciding your target audience first, and keeping their requirements in mind, doesn’t hurt. Target audiences are your door to enter the market, once the popularity increases, you can develop features for a wider audience as well. Or you can launch the app with no specific audience in kind, and narrow the range as per the usage and durability of the app. The choice of approach is always yours depending on kind of project.

 Testing Even if your budget is low, Testing is a must. I repeat, testing strategies are a must. Because the challenges faced in mobile app development can only be resolved by proper and regular testing strategies.

Deployment and Marketing It is the first thing to consider when developing an app, that how will your app stand out from the rest of the market? If you are developing a domain which already has apps on Google play store or apple store, then in what ways your app is better? So, conducting proper study of this apps is a must. That way, you can easily decide the USP(Unique selling point) for your app.

Advantages of Mobile App Development.

Better way of attracting potential customers : As compared to web development, mobile apps are a much more efficient way of attracting potential customers. When a user installs an app on their phone, it is a personal experience for them.

 Easier to access:  As pointed out earlier, thinking from the user’s side, they would rather install an app in mobile and access it use their smartphone than to access a web application using their laptop/PC. Smartphones have become part of our daily routine and depending on the niche of your app, they may turn out to be revolutionary(If you can come up with an idea that meets needs of your user/makes their routine convenient, E.g. fitness tracking apps). The key here is in what way your app can provide value to the user’s life, be it their daily routine, their business or expanding their personal knowledge.

Better online presence: When a business has a standalone app along with its website, it creates a good impression on their clients as well as helps in attracting new customers. Some Mobile apps can also be accessed offline, which is a great point for users with interrupted internet connection. And helps in building trust of customers.