Minimum Viable Product: How to go about Low-Cost App Development?
With over 3-million unique mobile apps on the app store (of both Apple and Google combined), the world has no dearth of ideas. Since the inception of cab services in San Francisco in 2009, startups, freelancers, and enterprises have experimented with the idea of mobile apps in numerous domains. Apparently, today, if something cannot be found on a mobile app, it is either illegal or does not exist.
A competitive world so fierce can leave many and even intimidated, especially in the case of startups, given the cost of developing a basic app is in excess of $10,000. For the ambitious ones looking to disrupt the market with their own version of ‘Angry Birds’, ‘Uber’ or ‘PokemonGo’, the cost can be in excess of a million dollars.
With a great cost, comes a great risk. Also, the cost of an app does not cease at the development stage, for there is a marketing cost involved. Unfortunately, if your app has bugs required to be addressed, it warrants the need for an additional cost. Promotional offers, discount coupons, and initial campaigns can dent an enterprise’s financial capacity, especially when it is venturing into an unchartered territory.
Low-Cost App Development:
To begin with, there are a few options for enterprises to consider if they are looking for some low-cost app development. 1) PhoneGap: Helping developers work in HTML5 and CSS3, PhoneGap allows for quick development of apps, integrating languages that are indispensable to most Smartphones and Operating Systems. In beta mode, it can be used for free.
2) Branded Business Apps: Limited to a few features, this platform helps you experiment with an idea across a small audience. Ideal for restaurants, clubs, and the hospitality domain, developers can get their app going in less than 48-hours. Costing is as low as $39/month.
3) EachScape: With licenses available at $2500/month, this platform offers the basic drag-and-drop environment for the quick development of apps. The apps built within this platform can be customized for iOS, Android, and HTML5.
Building an App for your Audience:
The bottom line for any startup, freelance developer, or enterprise is catering to the needs of the audience via their app. Thus, in the process of building an app for your audience, it is necessary to evaluate their concerns, grievances, or even recommendations. For instance, an enterprise investing $50,000 for a separate feature in their app should get some analysis for that feature by testing it before a limited audience.
Back in 2014, before Dropbox became a ten-billion-dollar giant, the creators chose to not create the app, but a video discussing the functionality of the app. Within no time, the video had garnered a number of views, and close to hundred-thousand subscribers, thus imparting the creators the confidence they needed to go ahead.
Similarly, before Uber went on to change the transportation business for good, it overcame its phase of scepticism by performing a beta test of the app for a limited audience. Incorporating only the basic features which included booking, digital payments, and tracking, the founders validated the market for their idea, and the rest is history.
Integrated social media planning applications might be common today, but merely 7-years ago, even the founder of Buffer had to start with nothing but a landing page to gauge the potential of the idea. Building upon a list of subscribers, this Birmingham-based programmer added the relevant design and operational features to the application, which today is used by countless enterprises.
Written by :
Aalekhya Puja
Project Delivery Manager
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