There have been a couple of good questions and comments about building mobile applications.
Disclaimers:
With that in mind, here are some of the things I've learned about this, from the business perspective:
HTML5 or native? Which mobile route to take? - ZDNet
I will try to answer questions based on my limited knowledge.
Disclaimers:
- I have been working with mobile apps for the past 2.5 years only.
- I have only work building apps for customers who pay for the app and give it for free to their clients.
- Again, I have not worked developing an app that we sell directly to the public.
With that in mind, here are some of the things I've learned about this, from the business perspective:
- iPhone users are OK paying for quality apps. Android users? No way. They think it is their right to get everything for free. Of course there are exceptions, but keep this in mind when working your strategy.
- An app, by itself, is usually no big deal. But successful apps are really those that complement a service. For example, WhatsApp Messenger works great because there is a network and servers behind supporting the cool features. Facebook mobile phone app is just an extension of their "real" service. Socialcam, Pandora, Pinterest, Skype... and on and on... Get the idea? The value is in the backing service and data.
- Chances are, you won't make millions selling an app. There is only one Angry Birds. They sell it for what, $0.99? The app store takes 30% of that, so you are left with $0.76 per sold copy. How many do you need to sell to make a million?
- All developers I've met decline offers to "share the revenue" and build the apps for somebody with "a great idea". If it is great, pay them, keep your equity, and move on. It takes a lot of work to build a great app and there are just too many requests these days, so with that demand, most people will rather take the money now than gambling on that idea. Again, there are exceptions, but this has been my experience.
- The Android apps are easier to "get away" with. Google does not check them. Once you are approved, you can simply submit the app and it will be up in a few minutes.
- As part of this, some crappy developers will build apps that crash your device. Memory leaks can occur easier. Have you noticed those apps that always run? Memory hogs? This is why... no third party quality control.
- This is also why you find apps that make no sense from the user's perspective, as they don' tcare about human interface guidelines.
- Apple's App Store is strict. You better check for memory leaks. Make sure you are following the Human Interface Guidelines or it will be rejected. It will take a week or two before your app is available to the public on the store.
- To develop for the iPhone/iPad you need to learn a new (well, really a very old) programming language. this will take time. Android apps are easier as they are based on Java. Blackberry also uses java. Windows phone is very close to the same .Net apps you may have seen before.
- Make sure you understand how to call APIs and web services. Like I said before, the value is mostly in the back-end service. Optimize the calls. Your users will hate you and will uninstall your app if it eats up all their data plan.
- If your app does not use any of the device's capabilities (compass, shake, etc) then go with HTML5.
- Learn HTML5. I agree with the experts that say this is the future.
- Learn JavaScript. JQuery mobile. Sencha mobile.
- Learn CSS3.
HTML5 or native? Which mobile route to take? - ZDNet
I will try to answer questions based on my limited knowledge.
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