Building an App - 6 Things You Should Consider Before Getting Started

The appeal of mobile apps is undoubtedly increasing with each passing day. With constraints on investment and time, it is indeed an arduous task for businesses to turn their concepts into something attractive as well as profitable. Here is a list of things you should consider once you think of building an app.

1. Is the app meant for promoting the current business or to bring in cash?

If the application is meant for showcasing your products or services, then it is advisable to go for a local developer. You are not required to learn a lot of things about the procedure. Show the developer some sample apps that you prefer and provide the text, videos and photos that you would like to see in the application. For maximizing downloads, the best thing is to offer it for free. Once the same is live, the customers can be informed.

If your goal is to make money, do not confine to a single country. Also, in the initial phases, try to avoid creating products for seasonal events. For revenue maximization, start small and utilize your initial few apps as learning tools. Source code can be bought, reframed through updating the graphics and published. Spending less will ensure faster profitability. Researching on ongoing trends will help minimize the risk while leading to applications that have considerable market demand.

2. Which is good to go for- Android, iPhone, or both?

iPhone or iPad and Android use separate languages, so the majority of people considering developing one initially to keep the costs low. If your aim is to make money, go for iPhone or iPad. However, Android development can also be considered, in case it is more in line with the market demographic of your business. For promotion of business, Android apps are vital. This is because prior to publication of your product, there would be no reviews. Moreover, it would automatically go live within 20 minutes of submission.

3. Is it good to consider a free app?

For different kinds of apps, the pricing works in a different manner. The concept of free apps is extremely popular so far as entertainment and games are concerned, specifically over Android. It is a good option to go for free as well as paid version, unless the product is an extremely complicated niche app. Watch for some time what generates more cash, then work with it. Initially, put ad networks within your app. After some months, once you gather speed, try considering in-app purchases along with other monetization alternatives.

4. What sort of app should be made?

The most convenient way to design a profitable app is to know that it has market demand before beginning with the development. One crucial question to ask is whether people are downloading the kind of app you wish to make. If the answer is no, leave that idea and consider the next one. It has been seen that the category that generates maximum revenue from in-app purchases as well as ads, is games.

5. Which one is the better option- hiring someone or learning to develop on your own?

If starting an app business is on your cards, then it is good to learn about the process of making apps, especially the general pitfalls and the procedure in which the app market operates. This is important because if there is lack of basic knowledge, you might end up paying developers excessive money.

You might hire a team if you are considering the creation of a single app for activities like business promotion. Local hiring comes conveniently but may cost more whereas outsourcing can be done at a lesser price, though it has its own challenges.

6. How much risk is worth taking while developing an application?

It is wise to generate a portfolio of successful applications, instead of spending too much energy or time into one big app. The risk should be kept low and the success prospects high. Initially, it is more convenient to generate cash from a number of small apps rather than one big app. You will definitely learn something or the other from each app you publish, so the quality would certainly keep on increasing. Making mistakes in the initial stages is common, but you will also learn important lessons for making educated choices and enhancing the revenue in future.

Considering the popularity of mobile apps nowadays, top mobile app development companies and mobile app developers are infusing greater creativity into the apps they are building, aiming to increase the engagement levels of the apps. But you need to be careful about your time, costs and the market demands and other factors as discussed for coming up with applications that are a favorite in the marketplace.

We provide mobile app development services. We are glad to share that all our mobile apps developers are Microsoft certified. If you would like to hire mobile app developers from us, we would be glad to assist you at Mindfire Solutions.

Top Amazing Facts about Mobile Game Apps

The need for mobile game apps development has exploded, thanks to the addictive nature of the games and widespread acceptance of playing games on the mobile. Millions of games applications have been and are being developed for different smartphones and among them, Android has a lion’s share. No wonder Android is highly popular among other device makers and users alike. All credit goes to Google for bringing such a smart and flexible technology. A whooping majority of Android video games are free and from the remaining ones, free levels are available which with highly customized and compelling features, hook the users’ attention.

Android is open source and has a worldwide Smartphone market share of 75% in 2013, with 500 million devices activated in total and 1.3 million activations per day. 103 Android apps are downloaded every second. South Korea is the most app-crazed country, followed by Hong Kong, Taiwan and the U.S. The Android operating system consists of 12 million lines of code including 3 million lines of XML, 2.8 million lines of C, 2.1 million lines of Java and 1.75 million lines of C++!

If you thought these stats regarding Android are amazing, let’s take a look at some interesting facts about mobile game development, in general:

• Mobile gaming revenue would shoot up dramatically in a couple of years. A market research firm reported recently that game sales on tablet and mobile phones touched $900 million approximately in 2010 and this figure is double of what it was in 2005. This research firms expect the sales to hit $1.5 billion by 2014-15.
• The multiplayer games are becoming highly successful indicating the fact that people like to play games with their friends. Some of these games are topping the charts, irrespective of whether they are free or paid. With social being the in-thing now, multiplayer games would rock the rating charts.
• It is the free-to-play games that provide a larger portion of the revenue to the App stores. The games offered for free make up 65% of the revenue. Although the game can be played for free, the revenue is earned by way of the goods purchased virtually inside the game app or by way of ads. The top titles in the App store that are considered gross contributors are free-to-play games.
• Big companies such as Rovio, Chillingo and BigFish do not spend anything on advertising yet they are able to send their apps to the TOP10 in the US App store. This is done by using their existing applications to promote the newly developed apps.
• The mobile apps being developed for the 2G/3G/4G network connection have to be tested qualitatively and this process involves using them on highways, on trains and even through tunnels.
• Although HTML5 technology is considered the latest technology for developing games, it is not appropriate for developing high end games because of performance issues.
• Certified psychologists are being employed by professional gaming developers to help them with the tutorials and game start issues. It is observed that most gamers are more engaged during the first session of play and this increases their chances of turning into paid gamers.
• A game’s sanctity or genuineness is adjudged from its position in the App store. If an app holds a high rank position for a few days, it is considered to be genuine and not a scam.
• The free-to-play games are no doubt more popular than the paid ones as only 3% of the gamers pay money for mobile games. However, the consumers that do spend money on freemium games contribute around $14 per transaction on an average in purchasing goods-in-app.
• In an effort to optimize their monetization process, many developers use the process of checkout on known and credible websites like eBay and Amazon.
• The Android game developers carry our pre-installation deals with various carriers as a strategy to distribute games on the Android devices.
• Rovio, the developer of the very popular game, Angry Birds is moving on from becoming just a mobile app development company to an entertainment company as it is earning high revenues through the sale of gadgets, licensed and all kinds of angry bird toys.
• One of the best ways to get large number of consumers to try a newly launched game is an invitation sent via SMS. The strategy to send SMSs works equally well for a game or a mobile app.

With each passing day, the mobile phone industry is witnessing alarming growth as the technology it runs on, evolves and matures. With the increase in the popularity of the Android phones, the number of apps available for the platform also has rocketed. Popular Android games used across the globe are Enemy Lines, Top Defense, Dungeon Hunter 4, Guncrafter, Jetpack Joyride, Dark Avenger, Best shooter, Retro favorite etc. Android beat out Apple's iOS and other operating systems by a considerable pace.

Top mobile app development companies are investing time and effort in mobile game app development. Millions of developers work for this industry and make some of the best games so that users keep returning to play the games again and again. Most Android users have a favorite game – be it a puzzle game, titles from arcade and action genre or sports simulations – highly likely that there is a game which has captivated every user in some way. With Android tablets and smartphones picking up steam, Android game developers have pressed ahead on exploring Android game development more innovatively than ever.

Android has leveraged its developer community to build wide-ranging gaming apps that run on a whole variety of devices. Whether its pushing the envelope with space age graphics, or exploring 3D inside out, Android game development is always exploring higher limits. Android game development is a hot field of innovations, a challenge for apps builders and developers across the world. Credited with turning over 300 out of the box concepts into powerful Android mobile apps, you must bank on Android game developers to deliver the best launching pad to Android gaming app.

We provide mobile game app development services. If you would like to know more about our expert mobile app programmers, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.