7 Factors to consider before choosing right platform for your Mobile App

Jul 31
07:18

2015

James George William

James George William

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Android or iOS? Or, BlackBerry or Windows? For which platform should I develop my app? Whatever be the above permutations, this is one question asked by many aspiring mobile app developers.

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Developing apps has become lucrative for young techies with an entrepreneurial spirit and for custom mobile application development firms.

But before to embarking on the task of developing apps for any particular platform,7 Factors to consider before choosing right platform for your Mobile App Articles numerous factors have to be considered and diligently studied. Sure, Android and iOS have been hogging all the limelight because of their sheer market share, but, BlackBerry and Windows also have their own loyal users.

Given the fact that Android and iOS are the most popular, this article would give more emphasis to iOS Vs Android when analyzing the below factors. Also, a comparison between iOS platform and Android platform will be drawn.

 

1. High revenue earning platform

Want to make huge profits? Go for iOS platform. An iOS developer earns more profits than the Android application developer. Average revenue an iOS app developer makes per download is higher than an Android app developer. The reason for lesser revenues for Android developers is that most of the apps on it are free when compared to iOS app store.

 

2. App visibility

If visibility for your app is your main aim and not revenue, then Android is the best suitable platform. The major reason for this being that Android market share is higher.

If it is a business app, then choosing BlackBerry is ideal, because, executives, corporates and business tycoons prefer BlackBerry.

 

3. Target audience

Who are your customers? Who is your target audience? Analyze if most of your audience is Android or iOS or windows or BlackBerry users. Based on the analysis, choose your mobile application platform. However, it is not to be forgotten that Android & iOS have the maximum user-base.If your target audience is mainly from emerging markets of Asia, South America, and Africa, then go for Android Platform; Android's market share mainly comes from these regions.

 

4. Publishing to the app store

Publishing apps to Android's Google Play is much easier than publishing to iOS store. Only a minimum set of rules are in place for getting the app published to Google Play. In contrast, Apple follows strict rules for publishing the apps to its iOS store.

 

5. Speed of development

If the speed of development of app is a factor in your strategy, then you ought to know the time consumption of developing for various platforms. The time taken for Android app developmentis much longer than for other platforms.

The reason for this can be due to the high level of fragmentation in Android. Also, when compared to Xcode of Apple, Android development tools like Android studio haven't seen much maturity, resulting in taking more development time.

 

6. Fragmentation

Device fragmentation is one issue with Android. New OS versions are introduced for Android phones much frequently than Apple, and the hardware mechanism of Android phones also varies. Therefore, the users do not get top-level experience. As Android users are highly diversified in terms of OS versions and hardware, it is hard to customize apps.

The introduction of iOS 7 has resulted in fragmentation in iOS devices. However, iOS ranks better than Android in this aspect. So, if fragmentation is an issue, then go for iOS platform.

 

7. Popular app category

Haven't decided on what sort of app you want to create? But passionate about creating an app and making revenues? Then, choose the popular categories that work well for each platform.

For example: If it is a retail category app, then the iOS platform is suggested. Statistics reveal more percentage of iPhone users make purchases online than Android users. However, this purchasing pattern skewed towards iOS is offset by the large user-base of Android.

 

Conclusion

You may be an independent developer or the one planning to opt for an iPhone application development services or a development firm for Android platform or Windows or BlackBerry, it would be important to measure the pros and cons before choosing a particular platform.