With the inception of smartphones in the mobile industry, app development has gained huge popularity in the market. Today, the mobile apps economy is booming constantly and it has touched a new height.
To develop feature-rich applications, an efficient mobile app development process requires efforts, a strong foundation, wonderful planning, an ecosystem, and a skilled team of mobile app developers.
The need for professional mobile app developers has opened various opportunities for app developers to make money. However, the cost of developing applications varies because of its number of factors and market conditions. It also depends on the type of application that needs to be developed.
As per the recent survey, approximately 96% of the app developers were interviewed, and the average cost of building a mobile application is US$6,450. There are lots of components that originate the cost of an application, and it may differ from market to market and product to product.
Have a Look at the Factors that Affect the Cost of Mobile App Development
Platform – Android or iOS
However, it is true that applications can also be built for Blackberry and Windows devices, but iOS and Android platforms are ruling the mobile app industry. Both these platforms rule the measure market share when it comes to considering smartphone users.
You should develop one such application that can be easily accessed on several devices and platforms; however, the cost varies accordingly. As compared to android apps, iOS applications are developed instantly.
And, it is one of the main reasons why various companies are developing an iOS application preceding the launch of an Android app. Though the cost of developing an application for iOS or Android might differ, the Android platform will take more time to be developed. This means the cost will also increase, so this way the choice of the platform can make a difference in the cost of developing an app.
Features and Functionalities
Which are the features and functionalities does the application have? What does it can do, and what services does it need to achieve this?
Let’s take one example if you want to develop one app that shows nearest restaurants of the user, so you should allow them to message other users and enable them to purchase of emoticons, which can be used while sending messages to other users.
To access these features and functionalities, the app will need GPS/Location features to search for the nearest restaurants, chat/messaging services to support the communication feature, and in-app purchase functionality enables users to purchase the emotions.
Currently, there is a range of potential features that an application can have like:
- Social Logins like Log-in Facebook/Google Plus, etc.
- Augmented Reality
- Camera/Video/Photo Gallery Integration
- Loyalty Programs
- User Registration
- Online Booking or Reservations
The more features you will include in your application, the costlier it will be to develop. However, not all the features are developed equally as some are more complex and some are easy. There are also such features that can be delivered by 3rd party APIs/service providers that mean they don’t have to be coded from scratch.
Backend Infrastructure & API
When it comes to talking about the component, which is vital in the cost of mobile app development, the implementation of a third-party service to allow a product feature can increase the price.
Often an application collects data from web-based APIs or Interacts with them. For example, Paytm payment inside the application interacts with the PayPal APIs to verify the payment so that the user doesn’t have to leave the application.
If you are facing any situation, where is no clear documentation on technical specification, it would be time-consuming to define the right path to implement information about the application. In addition to this, maintaining the backend of any API is also quite difficult and expensive and managing multiple app users.
QA and Stabilization
The other main factor that can influence the cost of app development is testing an application to find bugs. Testing an application is the most important thing to ensure that your developed application is bug-free. However, the process of testing requires huge efforts as once bugs are found, the stabilization is performed and then the product goes to launch.
If you wanted to run your application smooth, it is necessary that you perform QA activities so that you can measure user feedback and make improvements. It has a huge consequence for project success and it affects the cost of app development.
Developer’s License
When it comes to releasing a mobile application to the app store under your own or your company’s name, it is important that you have an account with the app store. In case, if you have developed an iOS application, you need to Apple developer account. It costs $79 a year, whereas Google Play account costs $25 a year.
So, these are the five essential factors that affect the cost of mobile application development. Therefore, when you make a budget for your app development, you consider these things. However, you can also consult any experienced mobile app development company that can assist in your project.
Author’s bio: This article is written by Petr Kudlacek, He is the managing director of Apro Software. He loves writing and sharing topics on app development and web programming and latest trends going around in the web world.
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