Ultimate Guide on Mobile Application Development

With the increase in smartphone usage, the mobile application development market has amplified a lot in the last decade. The process of creating applications to effectively running them on mobile devices has also become a trend. Today, business organizations are working towards capturing the mobile industry by developing functional mobile apps.

Mobile application development is a detailed process of developing a mobile operated software from scratch. To develop mobile software, adequate skills, knowledge, and budget are required. The competition in the mobile app development industry is gigantic. Thus, to create a highly engaging and traffic-generating app, you need to acquire the assistance of an experienced mobile application development company like Protocloud Technologies.

Daily developers create hundreds of mobile applications, but only a handful of apps gains the attention of the users and produce significant results. To develop a popular mobile app, multiple layers of success need to be peeled off such as keeping an eye on the latest market trends, creating a plan to monetize the app, smart advertising, proficient coding, and a solid business structure. App development isn’t all about designing or developing mobile software – no it involves business analytical planning so that your app won’t become just another software in the store.

Evaluation of Mobile Application

In the last decade, the number of smartphone users has increased like a wildfire. There are 5.16 billion unique mobile phone users in the world today, according to the latest data from GSMA Intelligence. The total number of unique mobile users around the world grew by 128 million in the past 12 months. Now, all these mobile devices are loaded with a variety of apps – calculators, instant messaging, booking a cab, or ordering food.

A mobile app is a mere software developed specifically for smartphones or tablets of different operating systems. Currently, in the market, a number of different mobile operating software are available like iOS, Android, Windows, Harmony OS, Tizen, and many more.

Mobile Operating Systems is a bundle of software that facilitates smartphones, tablets, and other wearable devices to manage the gadget and directly interact with the users. The mobile OS operates on a significant hardware system. For instance, iOS OS is developed by Apple to run on the iPhone or iPads only. And, for MacBook, Apple has a different operating system called macOS. Similarly, Samsung, Google, and another majority of the smartphones are functioning over Android OS.

If you have been using technology for a long, then you might have heard or used Windows Mobile also. Earlier, the majority of PDAs and communication tools have Microsoft Windows OS. But, with the entry of other mobile OS, Microsoft has introduced two different versions of OS – Windows Phone for smartphones and Windows RT for tablets. Further, in 2015, Windows 10 Mobile has been also introduced by the company.

Windows, iOS, and Android – this trio has monopolized the major share of the mobile OS market. But, there are some other second-tier operating systems also present like KaiOS. This system is developed based on Linux and designed for cheaper mobile devices. To beat the cheap second-tier OS, Google has released Android Go for entry-level devices because the demand for affordable gadgets is very high. However, KaiOS is the leader of the low-level devices sector.

Most Popular 3 Categories of Mobile Apps: Business, Promotional, and Personal Apps

Mobile application development services are in high demand today. With the level of diversity and innovation, bought by mobile developers in the market – it is hard to define the range of mobile apps. Today, from lightweight entertainment apps to heavy gaming apps – the mobile app industry is classified into various categories. But, if we have to highlight the most shining mobile application development categories, then we can say –

Business Apps

Currently, mobile apps are turning out to be an amazing way for business to optimize their services, manage their work, and connect with their customers. Full-featured business mobile apps are designed to manage business activities and work optimization by businessmen. The popular business app styles are –

• Easy to manage and share data apps
• Support on tax and law providing apps
• Managing accounting activities apps
• Business new providing apps, etc.,

Promotional Apps

Companies have numerous clients and partners with whom they have to stay connected always and get timely feedback. With the help of apps, companies can stay connected with their audiences and partners in the best way. Using simple advertising apps, businesses can easily market their products. The promotional apps of different nature are used by people –

• To communicate through content
• Connect via social media platforms
• Conduct real-time surveys
• Track band mentioning
• Send instant notifications

Personal Apps

Personal apps are very functional and useful for people. Companies can promote their brand using a non-profit app as a marketing tool. Personal apps help in gaining universal recognition. Your personal life can be made better with the following utility apps.

• Educational apps to learn new skills
• Tracking, converting, and counter apps
• Sports and fitness apps
• Budget planners apps

The best thing about mobile apps is that they are designed as per your personal needs. For some businesses marketing is a priority and for some customers’ feedback, thus the customized mobile apps are developed as per your requirements. Nowadays, apps are gaining so much popularity that business models are developed around the apps – not the other way around.

3 Tricks to Make a Mobile App Popular

The mobile apps are designed for a certain audience and methodology of monetization. Thus, to make your app popular, you have to focus on –

• User – You have to define your targeted users like what kind of purchase your users make the most, from which part of the globe your users belong, what you are offering to them, and so on.
• Implementation – You have an idea to develop an app, but your idea is nothing without the proper execution. If the idea of a simple app is implemented properly, then it can become highly popular and profitable.
• Uniqueness – If a user is investing in your business app, then they want unique services and features that can be in the return. When you are developing a basic mobile app model, then it is essential to offer some unique features to your audiences that your competitors won’t offer. Your app’s uniqueness will make it popular.

Trending Mobile Application Technologies

With the selection of the right mobile software development technology, you can save lots of time and effort. To develop an app, normally three main approaches are followed – native, cross, and progressive web apps. All the different structures of the app development processes have their own uniqueness and utility value.

Native App Development – Under this app development structure – separate apps are developed for each mobile operating system. For instance, for iPhone, you have to develop a dedicated app on the iOS platform and for other smartphones, you have to design a dedicated app on the Android platform. Moreover, the app will be uploaded to the particular stores only – iOS apps on the App Store and Android apps on Google Play Store.

Cross-Platform App Development – It is an economical mobile app development process as one app is created with a common code base for two different OS. This means you don’t have to create separate apps for Android and iOS platforms – your one app will be used by all the users over platforms.

Progressive Web App Development – PWAs bring together the amazing qualities of the mobile website and native apps. This type of app contains all the features of the native app, but they are hosted over the web.

Prevailing Trends in Mobile Development

If you are planning to develop your brand new mobile app, then you have to understand the prevailing market trends. Without adequate knowledge of the latest app market trends, you can’t create an app better than your leading competitor. Unfortunately, the app industry changes very quickly, thus keeping a tab on the trends is a hard task. But, the most booming mobile app market trends between 2020-2021 are –

• Blockchain technology-based apps are gaining a momentum
• Artificial intelligence and machine learning are also prominent app development technologies
• Chatbots are becoming an integral part of the interactive business apps
• Instant apps are in demand
• Augmented and virtual reality features are introduced in the apps
• Internet of Things is a new app development thing
• Integrated payment gateway systems

Leading Mobile Application Stores

Once you have created a mobile app, then you have to upload it over the leading mobile app stores to generate revenue and traffic. According to Statista forecast, in 2020, the revenue of all mobile applications will amount to $581 billion, including $117 billion from in-built advertising. Thus, if you want to generate revenue from your app, then you have to publish it on the leading app stores. Today, there are plenty of different app stores available in the market, but the best outcome can be driven from –

Apple App Store

Apple has foremost introduced the concept of app stores in 2008. Earlier, Apple App Store was a part of iTunes, but it has always been a dedicated place for iOS users to download the best apps. Over 2.2 million apps for iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch, and other Apple products are available on the App Store. By publishing your app on the Apple App Store, you can smoothly target the vast iOS user base.

Google Play Store

Two months after the launch of the Apple App Store, Google has also introduced its store for Android users. The Play Store was once again re-branded in 2012 to target Android devices. It is a bigger platform than the App Store with 2.9 million apps. The competition might be tight in Google Play Store, but by publishing your app on this store, you can easily target the huge Android community.

Samsung Galaxy Store

In 2009, Samsung had launched Samsung Apps services or later known as the Galaxy Store. This store is pre-installed on Samsung mobile devices along with the other Android devices. Moreover, the web version of the app store also provides apps to Tizen, Windows, and Bada mobile devices.

LG Smart World

For the LG brand mobile applications, an app store was launched in 2011 called SmartWorld. This store is pre-installed by the company on all the phones. A separate version of the store called Content Store for LG TVs has been also created.

Huawei AppGallery

In 2011, Huawei Technologies also opened its app store. The store was primarily focused on the Chinese market, but from 2018, it became a global store. However, you can localize this app store into 9 different languages, but the names and descriptions of the majority of applications are written in Chinese. So, if you don’t want to primarily target Chinese users, then you don’t need to publish your app on this store.

Amazon Appstore

The leading eCommerce store – Amazon has also created its app store in 2011. The Amazon application store is created as an application for Android and Fire operating systems. But, now on Amazon Kindle and other Amazon electronic products, this application store has been used promptly.

Global Top Rated Apps

Among the millions of mobile apps on different platforms, there are a couple of top-rated apps present. If you want to rule the mobile app market, then you have direct competition with the following apps –

• WhatsApp
• Facebook
• Facebook Messenger
• Instagram
• Snapchat
• UC Browser
• Uber
• YouTube

From Where to Get Your App?

If you are ready to launch your mobile app after reading the ultimate mobile application development guide, then you have to foremost find the best mobile app development company to help you. With the support of the perfect mobile application development company, you can develop, launch, and promote your app easily. To get your customized mobile app ready, you have to just drop a call at Protocloud Technologies.