Smartphones are much more than communication devices in this decade. Mobile apps are part and parcel of our lives today. We use mobile apps for various reasons, be it business, fun or infotainment. Most enterprises realize the potential of mobile apps; maintain them for promotional and marketing purposes. While all this sounds great, is it really simple to develop a mobile app? Mobile apps have a clear advantage over mobile websites, as they directly target the customer concerned.
Key Factors Governing Android App Developmental Costs
It is seen that customers are always in the search for high-quality apps at relatively low prices. There is nothing wrong in saying that the development cost varies to a large extent or in other words, there isn’t an average as the pricing depends on several important things. There are some factors for knowing the Android App Development Budget.
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Mobile Type and Functionalities – There is usually a wide range of features that affect the development cost of an Android app. Third party integration, admin panel development and utilization of hardware components – all these and many more affect the cost of development.
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App Infrastructure – The Android platform, in general cost less than Apple. If one is planning to make a mark in the realm of Android applications, then one must hire Android app development companies.
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Ongoing mobile app maintenance cost – Being the proprietor of the project, it is essential to sit down with your development team and lay out a comprehensive budget for major app updates, addressing new risks, malware threats, and addressing bug fixes during the lifecycle of the mobile app.
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App hosting cost – App hosting is perhaps the most significant investment a business entrepreneur makes during his project as selecting the correct hosting service can make a world of difference to the end user experience. There are several cost drivers supplementary with mobile app hosting: – The bulk of request received by the app – Web traffic – Memory optimization – Database hosting – Security against threats
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Cost of External APIs – For your Android app to seamlessly interact with other applications, it is essential for the app to collaborate with other software platforms. This can be achieved through API or Application Programming Interface.
Android App Development – Just how Profitable is it Really?
People are pursuing many important day-to-day activities on their mobiles: shopping, banking, advertisement, payment, entertainment, and more. So how profitable is it to develop a mobile app?
Where is the money?
There are many ways that you can make money from apps. We would discuss three of the most common methods used by mobile developers.
App Sales – People buy the app, Google deducts its bit, and the developer keeps the rest. The fact that people do not shell out money for an app unless they are extremely useful and well-designed means that most developers do not make much money off paid.
Advertisement – Free apps built are either entertaining or useful. Creating a simple app is a straightforward option. People download the app as it is interesting and free. Advertisements are placed in the app and one can make money from the ad impressions. Ads are the most popular method of monetizing an app.
In-App Purchases – As the name suggest, you sell real or digital products through your app – it could be a game wherein you may persuade users to pay real money for in-game points or money.
Categories of Mobile App
There are primarily two categories of mobile apps. The ones that are developed solely to create revenue/income and those apps that are developed for marketing or app branding purposes.
Apps to create income – – In the first case, the profit comes both directly and indirectly – from the sales of the app as well as from in-app advertising and subscriptions. The best examples of this are gaming apps, especially those such as Angry Birds for Android. There are several companies that make a good deal of profit from the development of such apps.
Apps for branding purpose – However, apps created solely for marketing or branding are normally available free of charge. Location-based apps are good examples of such apps. Here, the app merely acts as a marketing channel and its success largely depends upon the number of people it is capable of targeting.
Single Platform vs Cross-Platform Apps
Another important question – is it advisable to developer single-platform apps or multi-platform apps. As single platform app is much easier to handle but will work only on one platform. Like an iPhone app will work only on that platform. It is much more complicated in case of cross-platform formatting of apps. The positive side – it increases your app’s reach among users.
Figuring the Cost of Custom Android App Development
How much are mobile apps going to cost you? This analysis and survey would help to set a reasonable cost expectation for building a custom business mobile app.
Summary of Various Surveys
Surveys suggest that the price range for developing an enterprise mobile app is most often from $100,000 to $500,000
According to VDC survey of enterprise app developers – a mobile app would cost $140,000 each.
According to Clutch survey of app development companies – indicate a median price of $171,450 per app.
Kinvey survey of CIOs – found the average price to be $270,000 per app.
According to several cost calculators – feature-rich app might cost from $267,000 to $360,000.
App Development Coat Calculators
Several mobile apps and platform companies now offer calculators, which allows one to see a rough estimate of how much your app will cost.
Continuing Cost after Development
It would be a mistake to think of app design and development as a one-time cost. Creating the app may just be the tip of the iceberg, – the first step of a long journey.
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Budget for thousands per month – Researchers estimated that the maintenance cost of a medium-sized enterprise application project can range from $5,000 to $11,000 per month. The estimate for a small project can be $3,000 and for a large project range from $25,000 per month.
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Plan for several updated per year – it has been found that around 80% update their apps at least twice a year
Keyideas for Best Technological Intervention
Keyideas is a reputed Android app development company providing high-quality Android application development services. We have successfully developed hundreds of high-performance Android apps, on several of the OS releases like Android Oreo, Android Marshmallow, Android Lollipop, Android KitKat, and more. Best Mobile App Development Platforms – as a leading app development agency, we have the best available technologies, such as mobile app development platforms for implementing client’s projects. Rapid Application Development Methodologies – there are several vital tools for developing superior quality applications. We also follow rapid application development based on prototyping and iterative development without specific planning involved. Our custom mobile application development services would surely maximize the efficiency of the client’s business.
So is it Worth Developing Android Mobile Apps?
An interactive, feature-packed, and well-managed Android app can definitely help your business touch the zenith of success. So, understanding all the above-mentioned factors would surely help to determine your app budget with ease. The Cost-effectiveness of Android App development depends entirely on what the app can achieve. An app like Uber changed the way customers interacted with transportation, and by doing so, can recover more than what they invested in it. To make Android application development cost-effective, it must be implemented in a manner that takes into account both the company’s and the developers’ strengths and compensates for its weaknesses. The profitability of Android Apps on Google Play is increasing steadily. Now there are several ways of making money through Android Apps, the smart strategies can help you get higher ROI on your investment.
