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Mobile Application Development:
A Mobile app or Mobile application is a software that is designed to run on mobile devices. These may be smartphones, tablets or iPads. These devices have several apps which are pre-installed and other apps can be downloaded from the pool of apps which are provided online via Play store or Apple store. As smartphone are growing in the market worldwide the popularity of Mobile Application Development is growing. If your considering yourself for developing a mobile application this could be the right time for it.
Mobile Application provides users a hassle-free service and those who cannot access computers on the go, can easily use these devices. These apps provide single or multiple functions depending on the task they perform. Mobile applications are gaining popularity because they are robust and easy to use. Mobile Application before were only used for the primary purpose and general productivity like calendar, calculator, web browsing and weather information but now these apps have moved into all sectors of life.
Overview:
Apps came pre-installed in the very first device and later on these were available through a different platform where app was easily available. The term “app” is a short form of “application software”. These apps were used only for general purpose but as requirements increased and tools were made available many apps were developed in a different category. Usage of mobile is growing as phone users are adding up day by day. Mobile apps have changed the way of working and have potentially grown healthcare and e-commerce industry. Both the Google play store and app store have grown over the years. The mobile application has a huge impact on industry and startup who tend to develop a market for their business.
Why Mobile Application
These applications have made life easy and everything can be done sitting at one place. You can compare different products and buy what is most suitable according to needs. Mobile apps are gaining popularity now because smartphone users are increasing every day. The most used devices are the smartphone and mobile devices. Developing an application for business or any other needs would be the best move towards gaining popularity.
Types of Mobile Application
Mobile apps are a small piece of code which are programmed for specific needs and functionality. These apps are designed in such a way that they are user-friendly and fast. These applications are capable of performing anything. There are multiple apps which can perform a different task. Some work independently while others have different tools and other media for operation.
There is two main type of Mobile application namely: Native app and Hybrid app.
Native application
Native apps are developed and made to use on a particular platform or device. These apps are developed specially for a particular operating system or a platform. Native apps are fast in performance and are reliable. These apps have access to the phone camera, address book and other hardware of mobile. Native apps also can work offline without internet connection. But this kind of app is expensive to build as they target a particular platform so the company needs to develop apps for different platforms. Sometimes some apps are available for Android only and iOS only these apps work on their own native platform. Native apps need to develop and maintained separately as these are a different piece of software. This process is complicated and expensive.
Hybrid or Cross platform application:
Hybrid apps are part of native apps. These apps are developed using web technologies such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Hybrid apps are built using different technologies and can work on multiple platforms and devices. Hybrid apps can be built without spending time on the different app. These apps have gained popularity because they allow cross-platform development and reduce development cost.
Distribution method:
Google Play store and App store are the primary stores to distribute mobile apps.
Google Play store is a software store developed by Google where all android applications are made available. There are more than 1 million apps available on Google Play store and more than 50 billion apps in total were downloaded by the android users. As per the stats number of apps on Google Play store exceeded 2.4 million. Google play store has a solution to every problem in form of application for every need.
Apple App Store was open with mere 500 Mobile application in July 2008 But over the time App store has gone on increasing and as of January 2017 it has over 2.2 million apps available and over 30 billion apps downloaded from app store. App store has a number of paid apps as well as free mobile apps.
Android or iOS app which is the best?
Building a well-refined app which works on one platform is a major task and might take time. Trying to get on both Android and iOS may be an expensive task and can add complexity to project. Here are some tips which we think could help you decide what suits you the best. According to survey over 90% of the smartphone market is covered by these two operating systems. Although Android takes over iOS user for the simple reason which is the cost of Apple devices. But Apple users are more loyal customers as they don’t move over to other platforms.
Factors for deciding platform:
- Demographic location: Demographic location is one of the important factor while developing Mobile apps, areas like Asia, Africa and South America and China to some extent have many Android users than iOS because Android smartphone are available at a much cheaper price while those nations where Apple users are more targeting that particular platform would result in good business.
- Customer Loyalty: As per a few surveys iOS apps generate more revenue than Android as iOS has many paid apps. Apple users spends 2.5x time more than that of Android user on the paid apps.
- Development Cost: Application development cost is another major deciding factors for most of the app owner. Usually iOS app development cost is on the higher side as compare to Android app development.
- Platform Dependency and Development time: Android has a Open development platform as compare to iOS which has a closed sourced platform. However, if we talk about development time then Android take more development time as compare to iOS development.
Both the Android and iOS have advantages as well as disadvantages. Android allows us to reach a broader audience than iOS but Apple has more engaged and loyal users.
Hopefully, this could have solved all your doubt regarding Mobile application development process. If your searching for a good app development company in India, consider EclatSol to guide you throughout mobile application development life cycle and targeting audience for growing your business. Our team of the developer, designers, and analyst are experienced in developing intuitive, smooth and feature rich mobile applications and we will be more than happy to work with you in getting your Mobile Application up and running. We currently develop Android and iOS apps and have delivered over 100 applications across different categories.