Estimating the Cost of New Mobile Application Development

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Estimating the Cost of New Mobile Application
Development
Let us start with a plain fact If you have a
business, you need to build an app. A business
mobile app can act as your companys online
representative and enables you to serve your
customers in a better way. Ultimately, it results
in having a loyal customer base with increased
sales figures.
We can classify customized mobile apps in three
broad categories depending on the number of
features and complexity of the app Basic,
Moderate, and Complex. Talking about the cost of
mobile app, the basic apps price starts from as
low as 5000 and a highly complex app can cost
you over 45000. Read on to understand the key
factors that determine a mobile app development
cost. Mobile application development cost
depends upon various factors including feature
integration, functionality and the platform on
which it is being launched. Most mobile app
development companies offer a package based
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• on the hours spent in development. Some companies
  give a cost estimate based upon features and
  development platform.
• Major elements that decide the total app
  development cost include
• Project time
• Development team
• Cost of app elements
• Post-release expenses
• The market for mobile application development is
  vast and evolving. Whether to hire a team of
  developers or outsource your app project- its
  your call.
• However, the points mentioned above will help you
  make a decision in line with your business
  requirements.
• Here we discuss these four elements
• Project Time
• The mobile app development cost depends primarily
  on the development Now, the duration depends on
  the complexity of the app. The hourly-rate model
  is entirely based on the project duration. Many
  developers offer a milestone-based model, which
  also depends on the duration.

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• Development Team
• Based on the project requirements, you can hire
  experienced and dedicated developers in the form
  of either a basic or an extended team. The basic
  team
• consists of a UI/UX designer, two programmers,
  and a Quality Assurance (QA) executive. If your
  app needs backend infrastructure to develop an
  API then a backend developer should also be a
  part of this team.
• The extended team has a senior designer for
  developing an admin panel, and
• three to four developers for iOS and Android
  platforms in addition to the basic app
  development team.
• The decision of hiring a basic or extended team
  based on the app complexity. The integration of
  technical specs, animation, customization, and
  other technological advancements are major
  aspects to consider while hiring mobile app
  developers.
• Integration of App Elements
• Every app has some standard features according to
  its theme and objectives. Apart from these
  features, your app may require other features to
  meet the

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• business requirements and offer a pleasant user
  experience to your customers. All these features
  determine the technical complexity of your app.
• Here are a few noteworthy features that have a
  major influence on the development cost
• Third-party integration
• It includes integrating third-party elements such
  as libraries, services, and frameworks. Services
  include social media sharing capabilities with
  Facebook, Twitter or Instagram among others,
  geo-location tagging, etc.
• Even the in-app purchase feature is also
  technically complex because it requires a
  third-party payment gateway integration.
• Admin Panel Development
• Admin panel can handle the operation of apps,
  manage users and content, view statistics and
  perform other activities. The admin panel can be
  customized to match business needs and hence
  require expertise and experience.
• Backend Development
• This mainly comprises of creating an operating
  system that provides APIs for
• exchanging data between the application and a
  database. In brief, the backend implements the
  apps business logic.
• Using the device components
• Features like clicking photos or making videos,
  location sharing, barcode
• scanner- all use device components such as NFC,
  Bluetooth, Camera, GPS, gyroscope, barometer,
  etc. These components vary among different types
  of devices and manufacturers.
• For example, iOS app development aims at making
  enterprise-focused apps by using the security
  features of iPhones.

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• Devices and platforms
• You can opt for an ionic app development where a
  single app is designed to
• work on all major platforms, and finer aspects
  are adapted as per the platforms requirement.
• On the other hand, the native mobile operating
  system is focused on two major platforms-
  Apples iOS and Googles Android. Both these
  platforms are updated regularly and it is also
  important that the application functions
  seamlessly on the older versions of the platform
  as many users are still using older devices.
  This is particularly true for the Android OS.
  Android app development is designed to meet this
  need.
• In fact, the percentage of people who adopt the
  latest version of the operating system, even by
  updating their device platform, is much smaller
  than those who are using an older version of the
  platform. Likewise, it is essential to update
  the application with every new platform update.
• In the case of iOS apps, besides the version
  compatibility, it is important to maintain
  device compatibility too. In the case of Android
  app development, the factors that influence the
  app design are
• Market share of each Android device manufacturer
• Presence of the device in specific markets
• Client preference
• Android OS version
• The number of devices determines the variety of
  screen sizes, resolutions, hardware and testing.
  It will be more cost-effective to develop an app
  only for
• the best-selling mobile devices. This is one of
  the reasons why it is cheaper to create an iOS
  app than an Android app.
• 4) Post-release expenses
• Once the app is tested and released in the
  market, the next challenge is to make its
  presence felt. Your efforts to achieve this
  objective include app promotion campaigns, app
  analytics, and App Store Optimization (ASO)
  techniques.

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Other post-release activities include app
maintenance, updates, customer support, backend
server maintenance, cloud hosting, etc.
Post-release costs are not part of the
development cost and developers offer them as
additional services. In brief, you need to keep
the provision for maintenance and support costs
to keep your application updated. Also, at
times, your app needs a special functionality,
customized feature integration or any legal
permissions. In such cases, the app development
cost can be increased. Lets have a look at the
estimated mobile app development cost for various
popular types of apps. Cab-hailing or
ride-hailing app (Like Uber, Lyft, etc.) Any
cab-hailing or riding app consists of two
separate apps- Driver app and Passenger app.
Both these versions have tens of core features
and some additional features as per the market
trends and user requirements. Some of the key
features that every cab-hailing or taxi app
requires are location identification through GPS
technology and routing. Also, users need a few
security features and integration of maps. The
cost of taxi app is based on features and
functionality. On-demand delivery app (Like
Postmates, GrubHub, etc.) Be it a food delivery
business or transportation and logistics
business, the on- demand delivery app can
address your business objectives efficiently.
You can develop your on-demand delivery app from
a reliable mobile app development company and
boost your business by reaching a huge audience.
You can determine the must-have features for the
on-demand app in line with your business model,
market trends, and the needs of the target
audience . Even if you have budget constraints,
you can come up with an MVP (Minimum Viable
Product) for your business. The on-demand app
development enables you to bring updated
versions of your app with necessary or additional
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features and functionality. Startups can start
with a basic feature- a social sign-in. Users
just hate to give personal information in a
lengthy registration form. And therefore, social
media-based registration remains handy. The
integration of the sign-in feature can take up to
125 hours and you need to pay up to 6250 for
it. Another important feature is the geolocation.
If you want to come up with a restaurant or food
delivery app, this feature enables your app
users to find the exact place of their delivery
order in real-time. Instant Messaging (IM) app
(Like WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack) IM app like
WhatsApp starts with the registration process and
address book access. After entering the phone
number, the app users get an authorization SMS
or OTP. Once the user is registered with your
messaging app, a contact list appears to select
the person. Group Chat is another useful feature
in such an app. Stickers, emojis, etc. can
increase the interactive value of your messaging
app. If you want your app users to share short
voice messages, pictures, and videos, then you
need to include a multimedia transmission
feature. Other useful features are geolocation
and notifications. Here is a list of necessary
features in an instant messaging app with
approximate development time in hours.
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Considering all these features, the development
process for such an app can be stretched up to
more than 600 hours. It gives us an approximate
cost of a WhatsApp like messenger app at 30K
for a single native platform. You may opt for a
cross-platform app to save big on the duration
and cost. But, it is better to consult a reputed
mobile app development company for building a
cross-platform app with desired features. Search
and Discovery App (Like TripAdvisor, Yelp,
etc.) This type of app is in trend as people just
love excursions anytime in the year. The
search-and-discovery app can enable the users to
find anything in the city like the luxurious
restaurant, a gas station, and a landmark. Such
app has four key features- activity stream,
search based on geolocation, user profile, and
reviews. You can also consider integrating
additional features like social sign-in,
pictures and video uploading, filters, and in-app
purchases to make your discovery app more
powerful and popular. However, you may need to
pay more for adding these features. The search
and discovery app can cost you between USD 20000
to USD 55000 as per the number of
features. Online marketplace and hotel app (Like
Airbnb, Trivago, etc.) Airbnb is a big name in
the traveling app domain. With services in more
than 190 countries, the app has written a
success story. If you want to make an app like
Airbnb, here is your list of necessary features
along with approximate time for development.
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Summing up, if you want to build an app like
Airbnb, it will take around 1130 hours that
approximately cost you more than 50K. Here we
have considered the hourly rate of app
developers as 50 an hour. However, this is just a
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rough estimate. The mobile app development
companies can give you an exact figure based on
the project and business needs. Photo-sharing or
Photo-editing app (Like Instagram or
Fotor) Instagram does not need any introduction
today. Here is the question- Why has Instagram
gained so much popularity? The answer is-
interesting features in a simple interface
accompanied by a seamless performance. If you
want to make a photo-sharing app like Instagram,
it will take roughly 950 hours and cost you
around 40K. Here, we would like to suggest that
you should go for a native application for a
photo-sharing or photo-editing app. It can
certainly give the most pleasant and rich
experience to your app users. Registration, photo
editing tools, filters, and social sharing are
common features of both these apps. The
photo-editing app takes approximately 400 hours
to develop, and you can get the app at
the half-price as that for the photo-sharing
app. Here it is fair to mention that the mobile
app development cost can vary significantly if
the set of features is different. The global
price game These days, there are many mobile app
development companies are available to make the
selection of the right app development service
provider a herculean task. So, how does one
choose? Well, you can pick developers on the
basis of domain expertise and previous work. They
should be familiar with the market trend and
user requirements. When it comes to price,
geography plays a big role in influencing prices.
On an average, a US or Canada-based company will
charge 150 to 250 and Australian, West
European or UK-based companies will charge
between 80 to 170. Eastern European and Indian
companies will charge around 25 to 180.
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At Solution Analysts, we follow the time-tested
agile mobile app development process. Our
experienced professionals can build the most
customized app solutions as per your business
needs. Just contact us with your app project
requirements, and together, we will take your
enterprise to the next level.