We are through with smartphone revolution, tablet revolution and other prominent mobile device revolutions. Android, iOS, Windows or any other mobile operating systems – they all paved the way for an extremely competitive application development domain. With millions of apps available on the Google Play Store or Apple iTunes, the global per capita consumption of mobile applications is on the rise, which is arguably the biggest thing in development industry at the moment. People can’t spend a minute without their smartphones and this dependency has fueled the entire growth in mobility technology.
With rampant explosion in mobile apps technology, there is an increased focus on higher innovation and better user experience. The competition is sky-high and if your app doesn’t match up with the level of quality realized in the industry, its chances of getting popular grow dim. Hence, through this article we will vital homework to do before creating a mobile app. We will talk about its idea, competition analysis, mobile app design and development lifecycle and marketing strategy.
Let’s begin with App Idea and Competitive Analysis.
Getting started with the mobile app
Mobile apps thrive on simplicity, ease of use, attractive design, innovative features, usability and most important of all – its root idea. Imagine a mechanical body without a soul, a dead machine, that does what is told and lacks creative appeal. The same goes with your app soul.
If your app’s idea is too mainstream, chances are high that it has already got a pretty well established competition. However, if you have done a killer improvisation, your app will still be able to grow in popularity and downloads. But still, work on that idea.
Search for more innovation and creativity on Dribbble and Behance, they could be helpful!
Competition Analysis 2 Steps
Step I
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Understand where your app stands amid competition.
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Understand what your audience likes and dislikes – their behavior.
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Make notes on how to improvise and design a better app.
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Look for inspiration from trending competitor apps.
Step II
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Shortlist the best competitor and trending apps.
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Dig deeper – find out why they are trending.
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Use your competitor apps and see for yourself.
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Make notes and select areas where you plan to improve or add more functionalities.
Mobile app design and development
If you honestly did a comprehensive research about your competition, I’m sure your hands must be full with a notes pile and buzzing head.
Need not worry. All that hard work will pay off eventually once you start using that information to improve your mobile app’s chances of success and crowd popularity.
For starters, choose the right app development platform. That helps in future (I’m very serious about this)
Design and development gets easy when you have a clear picture about how the app will look and perform, once its finished. Other important areas to work and ponder are listed below –
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Select the best app development platform.
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Use agile methodology for better end results.
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Have your creative team assist in design and development project meetings.
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Focus on little details – graphics animations, sounds, etc.
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Test builds on different devices and platforms for bugs.
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Make sure the app has no bugs before launch, and avoid bad publicity and audience loss.
Mobile app design and development
The marketing part gets a little tricky as a mistake in design/development could be rectified easily, since that is under our control. But, same cannot be said so in case of mobile app marketing.
Running mobile app campaigns involves many independent vectors, including organic marketing, paid media marketing, social campaigns, print media & ads, television commercials, etc. There is nothing called best platform for mobile app marketing.
Apps aren’t same, and when you are introducing a new one you need to tell why it’s new. This is where marketing comes in. Do your research and create an action plan beforehand. While the app is in development stages, you can always prepare to execute that action plan.
Devise a strategy and work according to it.