Many might be wondering what is mobile application development? It is a process for building applications that run on mobile devices. These applications can be pre-installed on the device during the manufacturing phase or downloaded by the user later. They can also be delivered as web applications using server-side or client-side processing to provide an application-like experience within a web browser. The developers must also consider a long array of screen sizes, hardware specifications, and configurations because of intense competition in mobile software and changes within each of the platforms. Now that you know what is mobile application development. It has been steadily growing, in revenues and in jobs created. However, to develop mobile applications, you also need to consider screen sizes, hardware requirements, and many other aspects of the development process.

There are two most important mobile operating systems, namely iOS from Apple Inc. and Android from Google. iOS is Apple’s proprietary mobile operating system built specifically for iPhones. On the other hand, Android runs on mobile devices manufactured by various original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) including Google. While there are multiple similarities between the two, the different software development kits (SDKs) are used on different platforms. For example, Apple uses iOS exclusively for their own devices. On the other hand, Google has made android available for other companies that meet specific requirements. In addition, to date over 1.5 million applications have been made for both platforms.

Importance Of Mobile Application Development

Now that you know what is mobile application development, let us move to its importance. Developing mobile apps for a business not only benefits the business owners but also the customers. This is important for maintaining customer satisfaction. Some of the reasons why it is important are as bellow:

• Ease Of Purchase

Mobile applications are favoured by customers, more than their respective websites because of their portable design and easy access. Customers often don’t want to use a business website for a variety of reasons. That is to say, by downloading a mobile app, they have access to the entire catalogue with relative ease. In addition, all information related to pricing, shipping and other important details is displayed clearly. The process of making the final payment is also streamlined and integrated with the app.

• Getting Notifications

They are a great way for business owners to send out notifications to their existing customer base. Various events like product launches, discounts and rewards can be sent as notifications which are vital for maintaining the number of customers.

• One-Touch Access

Mobile apps make life easier for consumers as the purchasing process is simple and hassle-free. It relays all the important business and product information to customers quickly and efficiently. As a result, saving their time.

• Scheduling

In the service industry, the need for organizing applications and appointment schedules is important. Previously extra personnel were required to handle the incoming appointments and to organize them. All of them can now be handled by a mobile app. In addition, customers can directly make the appointments which also decreases the chances of human error.

Mobile apps are a crucial part of customer relations. This is why most companies nowadays prefer to hire developers in order to remain viable in today’s modern market.

Advantages Of Mobile Application Development

Now that you know what is mobile application development as well as its importance, let us move forward to the advantages that it provides us.

• Cultivating Customer Loyalty

Mobile apps give business owners an instant and direct connection with their customer base. As a result, they can introduce online coupons, discounts and offers which are readily displayed in the app. In addition, this helps in boosting customer sales as well as developing a sense of brand loyalty. 

• Reinforcing Brand Value

The key to the success of a good marketing campaign is to capture the customer’s attention. The development of a mobile application can help sustain the brand image with a lasting effect that is beneficial for retaining customers.

• Increasing Brand Visibility

Mobile phones and other related devices are amongst the most used devices in our daily lives. They pose a great opportunity for marketers to use these devices as an instrument to expand their brand image. As a result, by taking advantage of the frequent use of mobile devices, mobile apps help to keep the company’s image fresh in the mind of the consumer.

• Expanding Customer Base

They can help a great deal when the company acquires new customers. As most apps are available for almost all platforms, it indirectly increases the scope of marketing. That is to say, the products gain wider exposure as the number of potential customers increases.

• Reaching Customers On The Go

They are a new way to send notifications, advertisement messages and promotional rewards to customers who are on the move. They are amongst one of the most heavily used accessories in modern life. As a result, mobile apps use this as an advantage to yield a better success rate than email marketing.

Types Of Mobile Applications

Now that you know what is mobile application development, let us move to its different types. In the early years of mobile apps, the only way to ensure an app could perform optimally on any device was to develop it natively. That is to say, the new code had to be written specifically for each device’s specific processor.

In the past, if an application needed to be cross-platform and run on multiple operating systems, there was little code that could be reused from the initial development project. Importantly, each device required its own mobile application development project with its own codebase. Modern tools use common languages such as JavaScript to share code across projects. In addition, they merge well with application lifecycle management tools. For example, Jenkins. This enables developers to use a single codebase for Apple iOS, Google Android and progressive web apps (PWAs). They are built to take advantage of native mobile device features without requiring the end-user to visit an application store, make a purchase and download software locally. But they can be located with a search engine query and accessed immediately through a browser. As a result, eliminates the need for e-commerce merchants to develop native apps for multiple mobiles OSes.

Before developing an app, you need to determine which type you’ll be creating. Here’s a breakdown of several types of mobile application development technologies:

• Native applications

These applications are built using integrated development environments (IDEs) and languages for mobile OSes. For example, Apple iOS or Google Android. That is to say, native apps enable you to customize necessary features, but they can be more costly than other technologies.

• Hybrid Apps

These are web apps that act like native apps. They are developed using technologies such as HTML, JavaScript and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). In addition, hybrid apps are more cost-effective to develop and can be created faster, but they aren’t as feature-rich as a native app.

• Progressive Web Apps

A PWA is a website that looks and behaves as if it is a mobile app. These applications are developed with web technologies such as Facebook React.

• Encapsulated Apps

An encapsulated application runs within a container app. Products such as the Microsoft Power App drag-and-drop app creation tool enable less experienced developers to build a mobile app rapidly. But the lack of isolation from the core OS, OS lock-in and the relative newness could pose problems.

• Frameworks & Libraries

You can use this reusable code written by someone else to accelerate your development of a mobile app.

Now you know what is mobile application development as well as the benefits that come with it and its importance to your business.