How many are attracted by the prospects that mobile application development offers us! People with knowledge in this area make good money, are respected and have status. It is not surprising that many want to join this society. But where to start your journey? How is the development of applications for mobile devices? What you need to know and be able to succeed in this area?
general information
Mobile development is being created by a wave of new entrepreneurs who are capitalizing on their applications. Large companies in this market make huge profits. Such a market is also attractive because mobile development on it can be carried out not only by large organizations, but also by individuals and small teams. The number of mobile device users has already exceeded one billion and continues to grow steadily. So everyone has a place to turn around. The benefit of developing a mobile application for iOS and Android is not a secret behind seven seals.
Training
Suppose a person has, as he believes, a great idea. He is confident that the created application will become profitable and popular. He finds out that its development will cost, say, 200 thousand rubles. But here's the problem - every day hundreds of new applications appear on the market. Can his idea stand out among them? Will the investment pay off? Most newcomers carry out a superficial assessment such as a survey of friends and relatives, checks on application stores and other issues that are questionable for effectiveness.
After that, a decision is made (usually optimistic), and implementation begins. Fortunately, mobile development offers a way to test the value of an idea for an application, which is called "microtesting." And before looking at the fascinating creation process, let's talk a little about evaluating realism.
Microtesting
This approach avoids the failed ideas that seem excellent to developers, and at the same time makes it possible to confidently talk about success for really worthwhile ideas. Conventionally, there are three stages:
- Create a landing page.
- A small advertising company.
- Analysis of the results.
Using such a small microtest can confirm or disprove intuitive intentions.
Landing page creation
This is an important step. In fact, a separate page will be created where the application will be presented. It will describe its advantages, key properties, and list the problems that it will help solve. For a better effect, you need to design your landing page as if the application already exists. With the addition of a large button, offering to purchase it in the store. It is advisable to draw some colorful drawings that will push people to decisive action. At this stage, it is important to mimic the experience that customers will gain when they purchase the application.
Small advertising campaign
Once the landing page is ready, you need to attract visitors to it. You can take advantage of free features such as sharing links on social networks, in various thematic groups of developers, and more. But the most important thing is to launch a paid advertising campaign. Indeed, in this case, you can still calculate the level of return on investment. Even a small advertising campaign will provide a clear idea of how much you have to put out of your pocket to attract a potential buyer.
By the way, let's look at a small situation that can take place in reality. We created a landing page and launched an advertising campaign. To attract one user, we spend twenty rubles each. Five out of ten people presses a button. Thus, we get a situation when one installation of the application costs us forty rubles.
Results Analysis
As soon as the first users appear on the landing page, you need to start tracking their behavior. Attention should be paid to how much comes per one monetary unit; time spent on the site; the number of people who clicked the button. To do this, you can use the Google Analytics service or something similar. In fairness, it should be noted that this test does not provide 100% reliable data. But its objectivity compared with the admiration of friends and relatives is much higher. It is advisable to conduct an experiment for at least a few days until at least 20 clicks on the button are typed.
Field of activity
Mobile application development thrives in several markets. The most popular are Android and iOS. For each market should release its own application. Thanks to microtesting, you can evaluate whether it is worth implementing the idea. But where to start the activity? If we talk about Android, it will certainly help to win an audience - in the whole world, including ours, the most users of this particular operating system. But most of the money earned by the owners of iOS. It should be understood that these groups not only vary in quality, but also in requirements. So, an application that was able to conquer Android could fail in iOS. It is also necessary to consider how the practical implementation will be implemented.
Which creation scheme to choose?
There are three options here:
- Mobile sites (web applications). In fact, it’s just a fit desktop development for mobile devices. Their use is accompanied by significant difficulties in terms of earnings and certain inconveniences in terms of comfort.
- Hybrid applications . This is a more pleasant option when there is access to an additional programming interface for the operating system, you can send notifications and place the product in stores. But at the same time, the main content is still located on the servers. Thanks to this, you can make cosmetic changes without releasing new versions of the product. Simply upload them to the server. In general, this is a good way to test a business idea or start a virtual entrepreneurship.
- Native apps. This is the most resource-intensive option, but it is also the most functional in terms of using the basic capabilities of a particular operating system. The logical result is that native applications benefit in functionality and speed compared to items 1 and 2. This approach is for most companies, which are difficult to imagine in a similar role. For example, Facebook.
But it was all a saying. Now we will go directly to the most interesting. Namely - to create a mobile application.
Engineering / Design
Initially, the terms of reference for the development of a mobile application are being developed. It should indicate all the final functionality. Prototypes are also widely used for better vision. After the technical part is agreed, a contract for the development of a mobile application is concluded. Moreover, it must necessarily stipulate documentation, which contains all the requirements.
When the design begins, it is necessary to take care of the principles of building the interaction of the developed application with the user. For example, for Android we make square buttons, but for iOS they will be round. You need to create layouts that will display the logic of transitions. You need to consider the distance of the indents, sizes, visual effects, animation mechanics, and more. However, this stage can be skipped if the project works on the same designer and developer sitting next to each other. In addition, attention should be paid to cutting graphics. It should contain the minimum required graphics resources so that the application does not become too heavy. Consideration should be given to displaying screens with different extensions.
Implementation and testing
After everything is designed and there is a design, mobile development proceeds to the next stage. In this case, programmers are involved in the application. This does not mean that the architecture and user interface are already finished. It is possible that during work an interesting idea will come to mind, and adjustments will be made to the original plan.
Once development is complete, testing begins. There are many ways to determine the quality of work. Conventionally, we can distinguish mechanical and automated. In the first case, a person is engaged in everything, who manually checks on phones how the application works. Automation involves the use of special services and applications. They can check the work on different versions of the operating system or for compliance with certain rules. As errors are identified, they should be fixed.
And then what?
So the development of the application for mobile devices has been completed. Now it can be downloaded to the store. For convenience, you can connect a specialized statistics service, which will allow you to have an idea of the number of downloaded applications and other user actions. By the way, it should be understood that people are more likely to leave negative comments. If a person is doing well, then most often he will just use the application. But in the case of a significant error or problem after the update, for example, the activity of commentators increases significantly.
To correct the situation, you can implement a proposal in the program to leave a positive comment or write to the developer about the problems. The effect of this is quite strong, the main thing is to think about this dialogue correctly for the user. And then the development of mobile applications is appreciated, but the shortcomings go past official store statistics.
What do you need to remember?
There are many different specific points. Here is some of them:
- On each platform, the user expects a rich application. Therefore, mobile development for Android should be correlated with what is offered for iOS. Users do not take into account the fact that for this it is necessary to create an application from scratch.
- The higher the platform’s popularity, the more competitors you will have. The development of mobile applications for Windows and iOS will have a different effect in case of success and promotion. Since in the first case the audience is insignificant, it will be easier to advertise your product and attract users. But his ceiling is very limited. While mobile development for iOS will provide access to significant human resources, ready to spend money. Therefore, here you have to compete with a large number of other people and organizations.
- It should be understood how a person chooses. Initially, potential customers are not interested in a specific application, they just browse through the list. The icon, rating, description and pictures are all that he sees. If everything is decent, then why not take advantage?
Important social factors
The following things to keep in mind:
- The importance of the top. Getting into it is certainly good. And to gain a foothold in the top of the store is the key to success. Why is this so important? When a person wants to download something, then he enters the top of the store. And the higher the application is located in it, the greater the chance that it will receive another user. This is a kind of vicious circle. Therefore, it is difficult to get there. So, the application falls into first place, many users see it, download it, it keeps in the first place and so by inertia.
- There is no way to communicate with users through the store. All that is available at the moment is writing a review, which is not very informative, although it is expressed in color (and, given the situation, negatively), and the developer's answer is very limited in the number of characters. Therefore, it is advisable to work out the possibility of contact. Otherwise, a loss of reputation.
- It is necessary to ensure a comfortable user experience with the application. So, the development of mobile applications for Android or iOS should always be accompanied by an indication of the minimum requirements for the devices on which they will run. It is better to programmatically limit the ability of people to get acquainted with the creation, rather than read bitter reviews that nothing starts, does not work and crashes.
That's, in general, and everything you need to know about developing mobile applications in order to begin your journey into this area.