In today’s times, the consumer is spoiled for choice with the number of options they have with respect to owning mobile device hardware and their operating systems. This diverse availability raises a critical question for both independent developers as well as large app development companies as to which platform to target. Although for larger app development companies, it is possible to simultaneously develop for multiple platforms, it might not be the case for small-scale enterprises.
In this article, we list seven factors that add a significant ‘edge’ to the mobile app development economy for both developers as well as the users. Any independent developer or web application development company can effectively utilize the following factors while developing apps.
1. Portability
An Android app development company implements the object-oriented Java programming language that facilitates the efortless porting of these applications to other platforms or devices. Portability is a highly relevant factor, even prompting the likes of Microsoft to include portability of Android apps to Windows 10-powered devices as well.
2. Android Studio
Based on the intelligent IntelliJ IDE, the Android Studio is a tool specifically designed for Android app development. For the Android app development company, it is blazingly fast to set up and code through the WYSIWYG live-layout editor along with support for real time app layout rendition.
3. Play Store
The Google Play Store allows developers to launch applications that are still in the Alpha/ Beta test modes, besides making apps available to users for downloads within hours of launch unlike its iOS counterpart. This early download-capability for a select subset of consumes also allows the app developers to update the applications based on user feedbacks.
4. Low Barrier to Entry
The open source nature of the tools as well as the flexibility and portability of the technology eliminates the high cost of infrastructure set-up. An Android application can be developed using any device running Windows, Linux or even a Mac operating systems. Moreover, publishing the app to the Google Play Store requires a one-time payment of $25 as compared to the yearly subscription of $99 for the Apple Store.
5. Profitability
Although the earlier consensus was that iOS applications are more profitable than Android, this thought too has evolved over time. Per a report from DAU-UP, a games marketing company, the revenue generated by Android games was a mere 20% of iOS games. It has since increased to 65% of the total iOS average revenue per user, which imply the rising profitability of Android.
6. Market Share
There is no doubt in the fact that Android-powered devices are highly popular, if their market share is any indicator. A report by IDC, on the first quarter of smartphone sales, further solidifies the standing of Android as the most preferred platform – Android outdoes every other platform by 78% to 22%.
For an Android app development company, the aforementioned factors can be a driving force behind choosing the deployment platform. However, these parameters are notwithstanding what their clients might have in mind.
