By 2022, the total market revenue from mobile apps is expected to reach $693 billion. According to recent statistics, app installs increased by 50% from 2019 to 2020 across verticals, with installs moving up again by 31% in the first quarter of 2021, compared to 2020.

It is one of the most exciting spaces to currently be involved in especially with the projected ascent of AR & VR into the mainstream this year. According to Statista, the worldwide market of AR and VR technology is projected to reach $209 billion in 2022.

Different app sectors are posting vibrant growth as well. With the mainstream acceptance of trading apps such as Robinhood, Acorns, and Gatsby, fintech apps had the best year-on-year growth at 51%. Gaming, as usual, posted huge growths in 2020, with the hyper-casual segment witnessing an increase in installs by 43% with non-hyper casuals registering 26%.

Mobile devices are a favorite with gamers as with an estimated 159.1 million mobile phone gamers just in the US – 89% of all digital gamers. E-commerce, mobile entertainment, and social apps also performed exceptionally well in 2020. For help with enterprise mobile solutions, please reach out to Managed IT Services Houston.

Mobile App Development – In a Nutshell

As the name suggests, mobile application development indicates the process of making software for mobile devices including smartphones, tablets, and digital assistants, generally for Android and iOS. Most mobile apps tend to use programming and mark-up languages such as Java, Swift, C#, and HTML5.

Strategy

While you need to start out with an exciting but realistic idea, the first step in mobile development involves the strategy of how you are going to realize that idea into a user-friendly and successful app. This helps you to fine-tune your vision into a realistic goal and mental visualization of your app. Keep in mind that, on average, mobile app development can cost anywhere between $150,000 – $200,000 and take four to six months to develop.

The strategy phase of the development process typically focuses on:

• Identifying the market of the potential app users
• Researching the competition thoroughly
• Clearly defining the app’s goals and objectives
• Deciding on which mobile platform to use for your app
• Analysis and Planning
  

This is the phase where your app idea starts getting fleshed out into an actual project. Analysis and planning involve defining use cases and understanding functional requirements thoroughly. Once the core requirements are determined, you can start on building the product roadmap.

This means taking the primary requirements and structuring them into achievable delivery milestones. If your app turns out to require significantly more time, resources, or costs than you thought it would involve, you should focus on defining a minimum-viable-product (MVP), at least, for the initial launch. This phase is also where you should determine the requisite skills you need to develop the app.

Depending on whether you choose iOS or Android, you will need to make use of different development technology stacks. You also need to decide on a unique app name.

UI / UX Design

Intelligent and beautiful UI / UX Design is central to delivering a seamless and enjoyable user experience. IT Support Houston suggests that users should be able to quickly adapt to the world of your app and benefit from all features. Always keep in mind that user engagement is primarily driven by an intuitive UI / UX design that renders the app interactive, and user-friendly.

Information Architecture & Workflows

You need to define the scope of the data that your app will use. This includes the data the app displays to the users, the data it collects, user interactions with the finished product, and user experiences within the app.

If your app is intended for enterprise mobile solutions, you should try to implement rules about different roles and privileges as part of your app’s information architecture. Workflow diagrams are critical in determining all possible interactions a user has with the app and the core navigation structure.

Wireframes

Wireframes are the digitized version of sketches that mobile app designers like to start off with. Wireframes are often referred to as conceptual layouts that provide visual structure to your app’s functional requirements. Wireframes are highly cost-effective and quick to implement when designing app layout and iterating them through reviews. The focus is on aesthetics and user experience.

Major Differences Between Mobile App Development and Web Development

Focus on Interface and Platform

The primary difference between mobile app and web development is that the former requires you to pay attention to the seemingly endless variety of devices and screen sizes in the market. For the web, no such differentiation is required. Mobile app development also requires you to focus on the different platforms and either choose one or make use of different technology stocks to serve the most popular platforms like iOS and Android.

Types of Websites and Mobile Applications

When it comes to the web, developers can work on many different types of websites, such as e-commerce, business, blog, academic, government and more. With mobile applications, there are three distinct variations that include native, HTML5, and hybrid apps. For more information on Services Web Development, please contact IT Outsourcing Houston.

Languages, Tools, and IDEs

Popular languages for web development include HTML, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby and frameworks include Laravel, Spring, and Rails. In mobile app development, Mobile Development Frameworks and languages are limited and also have unique Integrated Development Environments (IDEs).

2 Reasons Why Mobile App Development is More Difficult than Web Development

Mobile App Development is often cross-platform and requires compatibility with multiple devices

Mobile app development requires cross-device compatibility. The functionality must not be impacted when switching between devices. Developers need to consider different brands, different phone models, and more. This renders the process complex and time-consuming as developers need to build from scratch to ensure compatibility with each platform.

Involves Steep Maintenance Cost

Updating and maintaining native mobile apps is always more expensive thanks to the different platforms and dedicated apps. Unlike the web, where updating and ensuring security means working on a single version, mobile developers must update the app separately for separate platforms.