Complete Guide to Mobile App Development: Process, Trends, Costs

Web development

This is a hyper-competitive era for mobile app development as startups and well-established enterprises are looking to transform their business digitally. Building human-centric custom mobile apps provides them with the ability to offer their services more creatively and conveniently. 

Consequently, companies that want to enhance their digital focus with a data-driven app strategy hire a reliable mobile app development company. Their expertise enables the digital transformation of complex and conventional businesses to achieve quantifiable success and ROI. 

Do you have a growth-accelerating app idea that you want to convert into a full-functioning mobile application? Read this blog to learn the comprehensive guide on mobile app development, including its process, trends, costs, etc.

What Does it Mean by Mobile App Development?

A mobile application or app is software built to run on a smartphone or tablet. The process of making this software for a mobile app, web app, online app, iPhone app, smartphone app, or hand-held device is called mobile app development. 

Based on the nature of the application, this software can be preinstalled on the device (utility app), downloaded from the App Store/Play Store, or accessed via a mobile web browser. 

Quality of the app development process and speed-to-market are critical for business success when the competition is at an all-time high. Therefore, the Agile development methodology is widely accepted for mobile app development due to its wide range of benefits, such as pragmatic and comprehensive processes, efficiency, improved quality, adaptability, flexibility, etc.

Mobile App Development: A Market Overview

The number of mobile applications is increasing with every passing year. With 1.8 million apps available on the App Store and 3.7 million Android apps on the Google Play Store, mobile apps are becoming a lucrative business opportunity.

In terms of revenue, Apple iOS is winning the race with $83 billion in revenue generated in 2022 and is expected to generate $125 billion by the end of 2027. Hence, if you are an entrepreneur or own a startup, you can look for a business opportunity in the mobile app market. Moreover, an enterprise can also build an app to expand its revenue stream or benefit from an increased audience. 

When we talk about the monetization strategy, premium apps, in-app purchases, and subscriptions are turning out to be some of the most revenue-generating streams. It is forecasted that $233 billion of app spending can be seen by the end of 2026 based on the given monetization methods. Therefore, you must carefully consider your strategy to generate incremental value from your mobile apps.

The number of subscriptions for smartphone mobile networks is increasing rapidly. It is expected to reach 7.7 billion by 2028 when countries like China, India, and the United States are at the top. This states why businesses focus on mobile app development to leverage an extended customer base. Given the stats, it is no wonder mobile apps have such a profound impact on businesses as well as our daily lives.

Top Mobile App Categories Popular in the Market

It is possible that some of you have already come up with a basic idea or concept. Those who are starting from scratch may have no idea where to begin. Competitive analysis is one of the crucial parts of building a successful mobile app. You can take inspiration from the various apps available in the market to find out the features integrated, technology used, monetization methods, etc. 

Get inspired by the best mobile app ideas given below:

Types of Mobile App Development

The types of mobile app development can be typically divided into 3 categories: 

1. Native App Development: Generally divided into iOS and Android App Development, where the app is built for both mobile platforms separately using their Native app development technologies. 
2. Hybrid/Cross-platform App Development: Here, the app is built using cross-platform app development frameworks like React Native, Flutter, Ionic, etc. Hybrid apps are also developed using web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. 
3. Web App Development: Web applications are accessed using mobile web browsers. These types of applications are famous, too, because they ensure that the application developed for the web offers a fast and responsive experience to mobile users.

Step-by-Step Guide to Mobile App Development

Remember that mobile app development is an iterative process, meaning you can move from one or two steps back and forth to generate a quality result.

Here are the steps to build a mobile app:

Refine the Mobile App Idea With MVP Development

Do you have an app idea but don’t know whether it will succeed in the market? What if you can launch it in the market with less budget to gauge the response from potential audience or target users? 

Minimum Viable Product (MVP) development is an approach to building a software product or, in this case, a mobile app with essential features that represent your core idea or functionalities. This is a launch-ready version of the app; consider it as the first step towards ensuring the success of a mobile app. 

Once you get a positive response from the audience and gain enough traction, you can start with the scaling of the application. It minimizes the risk and expenditure before the full-fledged mobile application development.

Tech Stack Used in Mobile App Development

Here are the frameworks, platforms, and technologies used in building mobile applications.

Top Mobile App Development Service Providers

Here are the top companies providing mobile app development services:

1. Successive Digital

It is a CMMI-3 certified next-gen digital solutions provider with over a decade of experience. With their domain expertise on various industry verticals, cloud consulting services, and commitment to delivering value-driven solutions, you can build scalable mobile apps.

• Clutch Ratings: 4.9 (77 Reviews)
• Hourly Rate: $25 – $49 / hr
• Number of Employees: 1,000 – 9,999
• Founded: 2012

2. Naked Development

It is one of the most creative app development agencies you can find to hand over your app development project. You can get end-to-end app development solutions from them, including planning, designing, development, testing, and maintenance.

• Clutch Ratings: 4.9 (28 Reviews)
• Hourly Rate: $100 – $149 / hr
• Number of Employees: 10 – 49
• Founded: 2018

3. Mercury Development

One of the oldest companies on our list is Mercury Development, making it a reliable source for app development services. From startups to enterprises, it provides its services catering to the needs of a wide variety of business sizes.

• Clutch Ratings: 5.0 (25 Reviews)
• Hourly Rate: $50 – $99 / hr
• Number of Employees: 50 – 249
• Founded: 1999

4. CodigoDelSur

It is one of the best-known mobile app development companies with more than 15 years of experience. Moreover, this company has won many awards and accreditations for their exceptional services.

• Clutch Ratings: 4.8 (40 Reviews)
• Hourly Rate: $50 – $99 / hr
• Number of Employees: 50 – 249
• Founded: 2007

5. Utility

This specialized company has a team of experienced and skilled professionals crafting custom mobile and web applications. They have experience working with various industry sectors, creating successful applications catering to users’ needs.

• Clutch Ratings: 4.8 (25 reviews)
• Hourly Rate: $100 – $149 / hr
• Number of Employees: 50 – 249
• Founded: 2013

What is the Total Cost of Building a Mobile App?

When you select an app idea and decide to build it, your next concern must be how much mobile app development costs. The total cost of developing a mobile app depends on its complexity— a simple app with basic functionality can cost you anywhere from 30,000 to $60,000. When you increase the complexity, the cost can range anywhere between $60,000 and $150,000. However, an advanced mobile app with a high level of complexity, features, API integration, and ample storage can cost you as much as $300,000 or more.

Other factors influence the mobile app development cost, such as app category, platform selection, app design, app security, testing cost, selected features and functionality, the cost of hiring mobile app developers, and more. Therefore, it is challenging to find out the exact cost of mobile app development. To give you an idea, the average cost of building a mobile app can range from $40,000 to $300,000 (or more as per the complexity).

How to Generate Revenue With Mobile Apps

As a business owner, you must be looking to make it a source of income. Fortunately, there are many methods to generate revenue through your mobile app, and you can select any one of them or use a combination of two or more methods. 

1. Freemium: This model allows your users to access and utilize your application for free while keeping the selected features paid.
2. Subscription Model: You can set the price of the paid subscription tiers with various features and functionalities for your user.
3. In-app Purchases: In this type of model, you offer certain services or content to users for a set amount of price. This is one of the widely used revenue models combined with other ones.
4. Advertisements: This is a simple trick of monetizing your application by approving ads in your application. However, your application must already be popular and have a set customer base to ensure this revenue stream works for your business.
5. Affiliate Marketing: You can offer some affiliate links inside your application via advertisements to earn money. The benefit of this model is that you can negotiate with the brand you are affiliated with on how much commission you want.
6. Collaboration With Brands: This model requires you to have marketing skills, as you have to be careful with brand positioning. You can build an app in collaboration with some brands or collaborate with them if you find your application niche.

Conclusion

There’s a lot to unpack regarding mobile app development, including budget, goals, timeline, technical skills, and app complexity. Moreover, it is essential to partner with a reliable and experienced company that you can trust to get custom mobile app development services. Ensure the company you hire has a proven track record of delivering best-in-class mobile apps for a wide range of industry verticals. Moreover, make sure to judge them based on competitive pricing, quality assurance, and maintenance services that can fulfill all your mobile app development needs.

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