I asked entrepreneurs from different communities on Reddit, Slack, Facebook, and LinkedIn about the MOST challenging aspect of mobile app development. Here’s is the final verdict.
Looks like “Setting Up A Mobile Development Team” is the most challenging aspect of launching a mobile app, followed by defining a roadmap.
So, in this blog, I am going to address the top challenges entrepreneurs like you face when launching mobile applications. So, let’s talk about application development.
From the initial days of gaming apps developed in Java to development through simple text using GPT-3, mobile app development has traveled a long way. We now have plenty of frameworks for the quick and seamless development of native & cross-platform apps.
FREE App Development Roadmap + Sprint Plan Template
Here’s what to expect from this FREE template.
The share of mobile devices in global internet usage surpasses both desktop and tablet. Here is what Statcounter says about Desktop vs Mobile vs Tablet market share worldwide.
Give the above stat, it makes all the more sense to create an app to target your mobile users. But, here’s the thing.
If you are like most business owners, you will just follow the herd, set up a mobile app development team, and get right into it. But is it the right approach for your business?
Touch of Modern increased its retail sales by 70% after shifting to a mobile app. GoTribeFit, one of our clients, saw a 230% increase in revenue through in-app purchases after launching its mobile app. But does this mean a mobile app is right for your business?
And if it is, how to go about mobile app development for your business and which is the most cost-effective path to follow?
In this article, I’ll be talking about a step-by-step process of how to go about mobile app development for your business. Let’s go!
Mobile App Development Process
Getting from an app idea to launching your app is a long process. Before you actually get into mobile app development, there are few crucial things that define if your app will be a blasting success, or will be one of the failed ones.
Most consider app development to be a linear process but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Right from validating your app idea to launching & marketing your app, every step in the app development process is recursive.
And, for someone who has a solid app idea or for a business owner looking to take their business to the next level via a mobile app, the app development process can be confusing.
Back in 2018, Gartner predicted that only 1 in every 10,000 apps end up being financially successful. 3 years later, the competition has become more fierce and the market, more saturated.
Your app can fail at any stage of the app development process. To give you a rough idea, here are a few of them (in no particular order).
Budget
Building an app is a costly affair. Besides, the initial development cost, you’ll need money to maintain, market, and scale your mobile app (as and when necessary).Too Many Competitors
Unless you are offering something that is at least somewhat different (unique) from a gazillion other apps in the market, your app will fail.
App Monetization Issues
You have a great app idea and you have built a great app. But unless you know how to monetize your app, it’s bound to fail.
Poor Tech
Your app idea is great but its tech is obsolete. In today’s tech-savvy world, even “non-technical” users can differentiate between a cutting-edge and obsolete app.
Lack of Proper QA
Your idea is great. Your development went great but you launched your app without regressively testing it.
Now, most of these reasons can be avoided if you follow a set app development process for your mobile app – from ideation to launch & marketing.
For instance, the top 3 reasons I mentioned above can be eliminated in the app ideation and market research step of the app development process.
In a nutshell, these are a few stages crucial to your app development process and successful mobile app launch.
- App Ideation
- Market Research
- Refining Your Original Idea
- UI/UX Design
- Development
- Testing
- Pre-Launch Marketing
- Launch
- Post-Launch Marketing
- Maintenance & Upgrade
FREE App Development Roadmap + Sprint Plan Template
Mobile App Development Tools
Another common query that entrepreneurs face during app development is – which mobile app development tools – platforms/frameworks should I choose for my mobile app?
With new development tools & frameworks being launched every other day, it can become super confusing to choose the right one to choose for your mobile app development.
The answer is – it depends. There is no one right size fits all. There are app development tools (the likes of Android Studio & Xcode) to develop native apps and cross-platform development technologies (like PhoneGap, React Native, etc.)
Here are a few questions that can help you segregate through a wide list of mobile app development tools/platforms/frameworks.
- Native or Hybrid: Which operating systems do you want to create your app for? Are you planning to launch a native iOS app [Apple App Store], a native Android app [Google Play Store], or a hybrid app for both iOS & Android?
- App features: What are the features & functionality of your mobile app?
- Community Support: What good is the community support for the mobile app development tools?
- Scalability: Will a mobile app development tool/platform/frame support scalability?
- Availability of Talent: How easily can find developers with proven expertise for a particular app development tool/framework/platform?
FREE App Development Roadmap + Sprint Plan Template
Mobile App Development Cost
As an entrepreneur, you cannot proceed with any idea without establishing the cost associated with it. Mobile app development is no different.
When it comes to mobile app budgeting, one of the primary things that can help you is getting a cost estimate from a few reputable mobile app development companies.
But there’s a catch. You can try to control or pre-plan your mobile app development as much as you want, you cannot put an exact dollar amount to your mobile app development cost.
Here’s why.
Even for the simplest of apps, you can add as many features as you want and every new feature you add comes with additional costs. So unless you have a comprehensive list of features you want to include in your app beforehand.
Having said that, here are a few factors that determine the app development costs.
- Choice & complexity of features,
- Platform(s) you want your app for,
- Type of app you are building,
- App development team, and
- App design
HOW MUCH DOES MOBILE APP DEVELOPMENT COST?
Mobile App Development Team
Your mobile app is only as good as your development team and this makes setting up your development team crucial for the success of your app.
Before we get into the details of how to set up your app development team, let’s briefly look at the structure of an ideal team. What roles does an ideal mobile app development team have?
Project Manager & SCRUM Master
It doesn’t matter which road are you taking to set up your app development team, a Project Manager plays a crucial role in the entire process.
A Project Manager, ideally, is a facilitator of consistent communication & collaboration between different teams as well as the Client/Product Owner.
He/She administers the overall execution of your app development project along with assigning tasks to developers/designers/tests in your team.
Other responsibilities of a Project Manager include – defining the scope, schedule, and budget of the app development project along with troubleshooting anything & everything that can delay its delivery.
It’s a quite common practice among development companies to appoint the same person for the roles of Project Manager and Scrum Master.
UI/UX Designers
App designers create wireframes, screens, prototypes, high-fidelity, etc. of your mobile app. They are responsible for creating intuitive user interfaces and designing the user experience of your mobile app.
If you are building a large enterprise app, your software development team will need multiple UI designers to create UI designs. In such cases, it helps to have a UI/UX Lead in your team as well.
App Developers
Your mobile app development team (obviously) needs the architects of your mobile app. Depending on the platforms you are planning to launch your app and its size, you may need a couple of developers and a Development Lead.
Quality Assurance Specialists
Launching your mobile app without aggressively testing it can be a disaster. Quality Assurance Specialists help you make sure that every feature/functionality of your app behaves the way it is designed & developed to behave.
Again, depending on the size of your app, you may need a single QA Specialist or a couple of them.
Now that you have the basic structure of your app development team, how to go about setting it up?
In a nutshell, there are 3 different ways to go about this –
- Set up an In-house team,
- Hire Freelancers,
- Hire Developers, UI/UX Designers/ Staff Augmentation model.
You can add Project Outsourcing to these options if you don’t want any involvement in the app development process. According to a survey by GoodFirms, here are the hourly rates of mobile app developers in different countries.
How to Set Up An App Development Team in 2021?
Over to You!
This end-to-end mobile app development guide contains has addressed every major concern any entrepreneur would have about developing & launching their mobile app. Meanwhile, you can download this FREE App Development Roadmap + Sprint Plan Template.
This will help you start the initial phases of materializing your mobile app idea – Ideation, Market Research, and more. The Sprint Plan Template will help you design your mobile app – irrespective of industry, complexity, etc.
FREE App Development Roadmap + Sprint Plan Template
Still, have you any questions about mobile app development? Contact us and we will provide you with solutions.
When I surveyed 300+ entrepreneurs, ‘Setting up your app development team’ was voted as the biggest challenge of launching a mobile app. But, setting up your app development team couldn’t get any easier.
With Resourcifi, you can hire app developers, UI/UX designers, and QA specialists as per your custom requirements using our flexible engagement models and save up to 60% on your development costs!
