With the rise in mobile app usage and smartphones being sold at an unprecedented rate, revenues generated through mobile apps will contribute extensively to the world’s economy.
A number of new players have entered the market with innovative concepts and vision to revolutionize the existing paradigms, while big enterprises who have ruled the market in the past have also made the necessary shift to mobile application development.
However, amid all the possibilities and opportunities there is an impacting factor called cost. With each type of organization taking the mobile route lately, saving costs while developing a mobile app continues to baffle the app owners.
Plus, a question, which has raised many eyebrows lately, whether low budget applications perform good or it’s just the expensive apps that tend to flourish?
There exist defining factors for either side and yes, you can spare significant money bags without compromising on app’s quality and functionality. Here’s how you can do it.
Cost-governing factors
As an app owner, you need to first understand what exactly affects the app development cost? What are the primary factors for minimizing the overall cost? How to do project estimation at the start based on certain parameters? And more. Here, we list down the prime factors that affect pricing of a mobile application:
- Mobile platform (operating system and devices to target)
- Type of the product (MVP or full-loaded product)
- Core functionalities to be integrated
- Mobile development company you have associated with
- Product’s scalability and security
Answering the above questions can make you aware of the unknown.
Set a budget at the start of the project
It is advised to set a budget before you begin. Discuss your idea and requirements you want to incorporate in your app along with your budget with your preferred tech partner. The development company can guide you if your budget and requirements complement each other. Also, they could help in rubbishing unnecessary features and quote you an approximate price of the final product with included core functionalities.
Take the systematic step-by-step route
Who doesn’t want to cater all the potential customers? Everyone desires to do it. But targeting all at once won’t do any good. Instead, a focused vision, short-term goals and future expansion strategy can certainly do wonders.
Get your app ready for a specific platform, let it enter in the wild and seek feedback from the end users. You’d get an idea of how people are responding and if your product is getting the intended love and response. Once you strike on the first platform and see good traction from users, you can focus on targeting other platforms.
Choosing the right platform
Another crucial aspect to take into consideration is the choice of platform you wish to start with. Android, being the famous and widely used mobile operating system has more reach than iOS, but creating a custom app that supports all the available Android devices is one heck of a task for the developers. Therefore, business owners are preferring iOS as the platform to get started.
However, it all depends on your target audience, their location, their buying capacity, their preferences, priorities and more. As the audience for both, iOS and Android is quite different, it becomes crucial to consider your requirements, goals and growth prospects.
Simplicity is the key
Simplicity can help you win the race. Loading your app with more features will not only make it complex for the end users to use but would cost you way more than a simpler solution. It is recommended to get off the blocks with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) rather than a complex or fully-loaded version.
A clear benefit of an MVP is that your app can go live in a matter of few weeks while the feature-rich version would require years to develop. The early initial release of the app can get you feedback and response of the users towards your app, which can help you in identifying the scope of refinement and pitfalls to avoid. Plus, you save a lot of money in the initial stage of the app development that can be used in future when you decide to add more features to your dream app.
Know the features to be included
Identify the core features of your app and prioritize them in the order of development costs and user needs. Once you do this, you’ll have a clear picture of what needs to be included in the initial stage and what can be left out. Because in the beginning all you have to do is include low cost and high need features in your app.
Outsource your development work
Another way to keep costs low is to look out for an outsourcing app development company, which is reliable, experienced and understands your requirements well. There are plenty such companies in the tech space, so perform a thorough research and find your ideal tech partner.
Even the tech leaders like Skype, Alibaba and Digg outsourced in their early days to save costs. Don’t hesitate in outsourcing your app work and get the things done quickly on your own terms.
Final thoughts
App development can be tedious and expensive at the same time. You got to look out for economical ways and put clever ideas into action for desirable results. When trying to cut costs, make sure you don’t hamper the app’s core value and performance.
If you have an app idea and looking for a judicious consultation on how to get started then feel free to get in touch. Fill the form or write to us at sales@konstantinfo.com