Tag: mobile applications

Mobile Application Development Cost

Are you someone who is thinking of building a mobile application development? Do you want to know about mobile app development estimation? Keep scrolling to find out how to estimate mobile app development cost and what you’ll need before hiring an app developer.

Requirements

If you are planning to build a mobile app development, you must have a fair idea about the estimated cost that will be required for the project. You would also need to know how much time it will take to bring the project to life. If all of these questions are thought through beforehand then there is a high chance that you might not face as many problems as you would otherwise without considering these factors.

What affects the cost?

The estimated cost of the mobile app development can vary, depending on various features. The overall price of the entire project relies on how well it will function. One more thing that needs to be taken into account is the wages of those people who are involved in the building process of mobile app development. There are different features of an app that need to be taken into consideration.

Features

A mobile app development cost depends on the different types of features that are required in the application. Each feature has its own fixed cost. The cost of the features depends on the time that is required to build those products in the mobile app development.

Here is a list of how much different features can cost:

  • If you are looking to build push notifications then it might cost you something from $1,000 to 1,500. It takes around 25 to 30 hours to build this feature.
  • Building a text messenger feature would cost you something between$6,500 to 7,000. It takes approximately 160 to 170 hours to build this feature.
  • Integration with Apple Pay and Google Pay would cost you something from $1,000 to 3,200. It takes around 25 to 80 hours to build this feature.

Supported platforms

If you plan to develop an app specifically for one platform, native development (Kotin for Android and Swift for iOS) is the best choice in terms of performance, stability and price. However, if you want your app to be present in both Google Play and Apple Store, consider building the app with a cross-platform framework such as Flutter, React Native, Xamarin and others. Building a cross-platform app costs slightly higher than a native one. For instance, in the United States, a cross-platform developer earns about 10% more than their colleague working with native languages.

Maintenance

Every mobile app requires an update to maintain its complete compatibility with any new device. Usually, these expenses amount to about 15% of the initial development cost/year. 

Also, since almost every mobile app store uses data, you will have to rent a secure server or cloud storage. The annual bill on renting a server’s space starts at $1500, depending on the amount of data and number of users.

Mobile Application Development Cost

Development team size

How many people develop your app should be determined according to the project’s complexity. You can find out more about who you will need in your development team once you do your proper research.

Generally, the following setup is included:

  • Two developers: iOS, Android or cross-platform.
  • Quality Assurance (QA) Engineer: A QA Engineer reviews all specifications and technical documents, as well as creates and plans all testing activities for the mobile app development.
  • Backend developer oversees data storage, payment systems and logic of app operation.
  • UX/UI Designer creates a user-friendly interface for the mobile app.
  • Project-manager manages the development process and communicates directly with the client.

The Team’s location

One factor that plays an important role in determining the mobile app development cost is the location of the team. Yes, you read that correctly. If we take into account the price of the mobile app developers based in North America, they are mostly over $100/hour. Mobile app developers based in Western Europe provide the services but at half price. Yes, it is that much of a difference.

Mobile Application Specifications

It is important that you first go through all the mobile app development specifications before estimating the cost of the project. You cannot reach any technical specifications before reviewing the concepts.

Overview

To give you a better overview of how to calculate the mobile app development cost, you must realize all that you have to do at first. Make sure that you have a list ready of all the application features. This list will include the type of users, the roles they play and the different classes that they cater to. In the overview, there will be ample information about the hardware and software details of the mobile app. Apart from all this, there will be a detailed overview of the design and the constraints that might arise at a later stage of the project. A list of user documentation is also required.

Functional requirements

Certain functional requirements are needed during software in-app breakdown development.

They are as follows:

  1. Purpose of building the mobile app development 
  2. The detailed information about a feature
  3. What a feature does
  4. Implementation priorities 
  5. Use cases

External interfaces

Here is a list of all the external interfaces of the mobile app development:

  • Screens

As the user interface, prototype and description of each app screen are shared.

  • Software Interface

It includes the specification of the APIs, the operating system, the database and the third-party software.

  • Hardware interface

The hardware interface includes the various technical features of how the mobile app development works with the hardware of the device.

  • Communication interface

The communication interface describes the features of the mobile app development such as the email, the different browsers and the messaging.

  • Other parameters 

The other external interfaces include but are not limited to the use of geographic data, push notifications, in-app purchases, data security and the various performance measurements of the mobile app development.

Estimation process

After the technical aspects of the mobile app development are sorted, it is time to estimate the cost of the entire project. After all, there is nothing in the world like a free lunch. The mobile app development cost is estimated based on the various steps and specifications required in the entire process.

Here is a list of the different steps that help in the mobile app development cost:

  • Breakdown

It is important to first start with the breakdown of the technical requirements and specifications of the mobile app development cost. It could be easily done with the help of decomposing the cost into small parts of the application.

Here is how you can do a breakdown of the mobile app development cost:

  • By screens

To be able to break down by screens, a wireframe of each of the screens must be analysed first. This could be easily done with the help of the present features such as the login or the audio recording options.

  • By function

To be able to break down the mobile app development cost by function, all the functions of the application must be analyzed. Make sure you are well aware of how a certain function works and why it is there.

  • Developer estimation

After the breakdown of the mobile app development cost is done, you need to estimate a cost for the developer that would do all the leg work. The developer will closely monitor how long it will take to program every feature in the mobile app. They will give you a fair idea about the time that it will take you during this process.

  • Project manager’s cost

Usually what mobile app developers do is overestimate the time which is required in the entire process. This kind of makes the job of a project manager tough.

In a sense, it is upon the project manager to strike the right balance and manage the time accordingly. The project manager should also be able to balance out the estimated cost and make sure that there is quality work. Another thing that the project manager needs to do is to make sure that the entire project has a code merge amongst the developers; factorization and the release are taken care of.

  • Final estimation

At this stage, the project manager gives the final estimations of the mobile app project. This step also includes everything else from other team members. If any corrections are required, they are taken care of at this final stage.

Price models

Two reliable price models are used in the mobile app development cost.

Here they are:

  • Fixed-price

The fixed price model has a specific list of the different features of mobile app development. It also has what the features will be used for once the mobile app development is built. Not to forget, the mobile app development cost is also determined through this price model. So, just in case, if any other work occurs during the mobile app development stage, there is an additional cost that needs to be added to the estimation. It requires an agreement with the client to avoid any issues at a later stage. 

  • Time and material

The second type of price model is the time and material model. This is a pretty flexible price model as compared to the fixed price model.

Here are some of the key features of the time and material price model:

  1. The developer provides a rough estimation of the mobile app development cost that will be required in the different stages of the project.
  2. The developers start with the mobile app development process and present the outcome to the client at the end of each stage to make sure that there is no ambiguity regarding the money.
  3. If there is any need for any additional work, the developers let the client know and the client then pays for the additional mobile app development cost.

Conclusion

Mobile app development cost is not an easy game. The entire process takes into account the various aspects of the mobile app development based on the technical requirements that you have.

Summary

Once you start working on mobile app development, it is important that you first sort out the mobile app development estimation and cost to avoid any issues at a later stage. Make sure that you have clarified everything with the developers and the project manager beforehand. You can follow the two price models listed in this article for your mobile app development cost. The two models can be quite beneficial for you during the entire project, depending on your individual needs and requirements.

Did you find this article useful? Let us know in the comments below.

Mobile commerce apps taking priority among 45 percent of marketers

Applications are now being used to help enhance the rate of customer engagement while shopping.

Marketers are continuing with their rapid adoption of techniques to reach consumers via smartphone and the popularity of mobile commerce apps is a new reflection of that attitude. A new report suggests that these marketers are using mobile applications as a new way of reaching their target audience.

The report was titled “Quantifying the Rise of Mobile Apps & The Value of Deep Linking.”

That report was published by The Relevancy Group in conjunction with Branch. The research data indicated that almost 45 percent of marketers are now developing and launching mobile commerce apps to enhance customer engagement. Furthermore, over 40 percent of marketers are looking to mobile apps to boost brand loyalty. About that same percentage of marketers are also using applications for the purpose of driving sales.

Marketers recognize the increasing value of mobile commerce apps to drive revenue.

Mobile Commerce Apps - iPhone appsWhen asked their opinion about the effectiveness of m-commerce apps in driving revenue, marketers ranked them as fourth on the list of most effective channels. Above applications in terms of their effectiveness were: display advertising, social media marketing and email marketing.

According to Branch’s Todd Patton, “Email marketing remains an important part of your marketing efforts.” Furthermore, “Email is the best channel to directly reach potential customers and loyal supporters, “ he said.

At the same time, marketers acknowledge that email marketing can be very effective while at the same time being easy to use. It remains a central marketing tactic for brands due to the simplicity of the tools required in order to reach customers. It is quick, cost effective and it reaches people on virtually any connected device.

A previous Adestra and Ascend2 report called “State of Digital Marketing – Benchmarks for Success,” showed that 61 percent of marketers feel email is the most effective marketing technique. Only 23 percent felt that it was the most challenging tactic to effectively execute.

That said, 38 percent of marketers felt mobile marketing was the most challenging to execute. Still, its effectiveness appears to have made the challenge worthwhile considering the rising number of mobile commerce apps being produced.