For business owners, the decision on choosing a mobile app development framework is extremely crucial before starting a mobile app development project. Even if you can count on your technology partners, you are the one who makes the final decision, and be able to evaluate the pros and cons. In order to do so, you need to look through various factors including your ultimate goal, target audiences, development team, and popular frameworks.
This article lists all the required factors to make a proper decision. After a detailed analysis, you would be in a perfect position to move ahead in your mobile app development journey. So, let’s get started.
1. Determine the objective of your mobile app development
The technology stack you choose for designing your mobile application must be based on your end purpose for creating the app. For instance, if you are a company looking to just prove your idea or recruit early users of your product, you would benefit from a cross-platform strategy.
React Native and Flutter are two prominent programming languages. It means faster development and lower costs, which is advantageous for the startup environment. Choose cross-platform vs hybrid app development if you only wish to evaluate your concept and construct a minimum viable product.
If, on the other hand, you are an established company with a proven business model and you intend to scale your app soon after launch, a native approach would be advantageous.
2. Know your audiences
When picking the appropriate framework, it is essential to identify the target audience. The effectiveness of a mobile application is dependent on the selection of its primary audience. Also included is user behavior, which varies depending on the operating system type.
Smartphone users are more prone to download apps than Apple users, who are more likely to pay for apps. You take care to make an appropriate choice. To better know your audience insights, consider the following:
- Determine which audience needs your application based on their location and characteristics.
- Determine how your software may create value to your audience.
- Understand the major issues that your app will resolve for the audience.
What else?
What Is Your Required Platform?
There are numerous popular operating systems, but Android and iOS are the most prevalent. Due to their huge market dominance, more than fifty percent of companies select these platforms for business initiation. After selecting the platform, you must next select the methodology.
This indicates that you require either a hybrid app, a native app, or a cross-platform app. Depending on their requirements and business goals, some firms favor cross-mobile platform development, while others favor native app development.
3. Know your development team
Your most essential assessment throughout product development will be your development team. Before choosing a framework, you must determine the capabilities of your in-house development team. And, do you require the assistance of outsourcing for your project? If so, are you prepared to do the same?
Furthermore, employing a native coder in any Western nation would cost between $50 and $80 per hour. It would be a costly solution in terms of both money and time. Your greatest alternative would be to outsource your job to qualified Asian developers in this instance. Consider whether you are prepared for the same. If so, you should go for native mobile application development.
Cross-platform application development is always a possibility. Several mobile app development frameworks, such as React Native, Flutter, Xamarin, and Ionic, allow you to create native-like apps using Javascript and C#, the two most popular programming languages in the world. You may have developers proficient in these languages on your in-house staff, or you may easily obtain one at a reasonable price through an IT outsourcing provider.
4. Know preferred mobile application frameworks
Source: Statista
What is the most preferred framework for developing mobile applications? Recent statistics on the preferred mobile cross-platform frameworks for app development are displayed in the graph below. As can be seen, Flutter is now the most popular framework for developing mobile applications, with React Native following closely after.
Numerous aspects will influence your choice of mobile application development framework, including:
- How skilled your developers are and which programming languages they're proficient in;
- What type of application do you intend to develop (i.e. the framework selection may Change based on whether it's a game or an online store);
- Which operating system you're targeting.
When choosing from the several mobile app development frameworks, take in mind the following:
- Whether it is available on a free open-source basis;
- Compatible operating systems
- Whether it is suitable for your industry;
- Time-spend to develop the app
- The scale of the supporting community
- Assess the flexibility and scalability of the solution
Final thoughts
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Author: Chi Vo - Content Writer