Here is a set of typical stages in creating a mobile application from scratch, which the Componentix studio applies to its activities.

Business analysis of the target market

At this stage, the customer should decide why he plans to use the application, what is the final goal of developing a mobile communication tool with the audience. Here is a list of indicative questions to which you should find answers before formulating technical specifications and ordering application development:

• What goals do you plan to achieve by creating and releasing your own mobile application?
• Are sales/conversion of conversions into the sale of goods and services planned within the application?
• Who is your target audience and from whom can it be replenished?
• How high is the competition in the area in which you plan to work (including with the application)?
• What applications does your audience and the audience of your competitors use, do they overlap? Are they ready to use your app instead of similar apps?
• What is the budget for the development and promotion of the resulting application?

Development of an agreed solution

Before starting development, it is necessary to obtain a technical specification (TOR) from the customer or provide him with a brief for completion and further work on this document.

After receiving the completed brief and/or technical specifications, you can begin prototyping and drawing up user profiles to assess the capabilities of the final product.

Based on the designer’s vision, business assessment and agreement on the details of the technical specifications, the development process can be launched.

Prototyping

Prototypes are developed by the designer and can be either static or interactive. To do this, you can use one or more of the prototyping tools we talked about earlier.

Static prototypes and interactive mockups should be designed taking into account the technical and software base that is planned to be used to create the application.

Writing code and implementing technologies

With the finished design, the application goes to the developers: they will have to create a mobile application based on programming languages, frameworks and various technologies in accordance with the technical specifications, brief and approved prototype.

Testing

At various stages of application development, internal testing of the application is mandatory, both on simulators and on real devices. The purpose of testing is to make sure that the interaction of the application with the hardware and software platform of smartphones and tablets will be exactly as expected at the prototyping stage.

Creating a pre-release version

As a result of a series of tests and improvements to the application, a working version of the application should be obtained. It is this version that will be added to the application store: Apple App Store, Google Play, Windows Phone application store (depending on what platform the development is being carried out for) or any similar service for distributing applications.

Adding an application to the store

The final stage of the studio’s work is adding the application for review to one of the above application stores (in the case of Componentix we are talking about the App Store or Google Play).

Optional stage: further technical support and marketing promotion of the application

Since these services are provided separately from the main package of services, they are paid separately. In addition to marketing and technical support, it is also possible to publish the application in the App Store or Google Play on behalf of the customer (White Label service), and provide server support for the application.

If you're ready order a package of basic and/or additional services for developing a native application - write: we will discuss with you the timing, cost, and help draw up technical specifications and fill out a brief . And after a month or two you will have your own mobile application for iPhone, iPad or Android smartphones and tablets.

In fact, bringing this idea to life is not as difficult and not as expensive as it might seem at first glance. You just need to have a good idea of ​​what exactly you expect from a mobile application and determine how to achieve your goals.

Do you enjoy developing mobile apps for your business, blog, product or service, or are you just looking for a new source of income? Are you wondering how to do this and calculate future expenses? In fact, bringing this idea to life is not as difficult and not as expensive as it might seem at first glance. You just need to have a good idea of ​​what exactly you expect from an application for a mobile phone or tablet and determine how to achieve your goals.

PREPARATORY STAGE

Before creating a mobile application, you should decide on the following points:

• Do I have a specific vision of what the finished product will be and what its functionality will be?
• What problems is the program designed to solve and what will be the benefit for a specific user?
• What platforms will the finished software product work on (iOS, Android, Windows Phone)?
• Will daily monitoring of its functioning be required?
• How much am I willing to spend?
• Will I create an application myself or will I turn to professional developers?

Also keep in mind that creating mobile programs for a business, for example for a cafe, pizzeria or fitness club, should be taken especially seriously. After all, the company’s presence of such a modern tool is a serious image factor that will contribute to greater customer loyalty to the brand and a significant increase in the number of repeat visits.

METHODS AND COSTS OF CREATING AN APPLICATION

There are two ways to create applications for mobile devices. The first involves the independent creation of programs for electronic devices based on Android or IOS according to a template type using special website constructors. The second way, which is more expensive, but ultimately allows you to get serious and functional products, is to seek help from individuals or companies involved in writing software. The second option is suitable if we are talking about creating serious software products with specific characteristics that go beyond the ready-made kits available on design sites. It should also be taken into account that professional development for iOS or Android requires significant expenses. What is the cost of creating an application for Android and IOS platforms on the Russian market? The price range is quite wide - from several hundred to tens of thousands of dollars - it all depends on the type of software and its functionality. However, such serious investments more than pay off in the long term. When planning the final cost, it is also worth taking into account the costs of placing a new product in the AppStore and Android Market. If you are limited by a small budget and have no time at all, then you can try to design an application for electronic devices yourself. You don't need to be a programmer to do this. Read on to find out how easy it is to do this.

HOW TO CREATE AN APP FOR FREE

Today, there are enough domestic and foreign platforms available on the Internet that allow you to independently construct an application of a ready-made type for free. Designer sites contain hundreds of ready-made application options, sorted into various categories: small business, education, entertainment, sports, blogs, and the like. On such resources, programs with a standard and limited set of functions are created free of charge. Limitations relate to the number of installations and views of your application, the number of items in the catalog, the possibility of publication in stores, the presence of a payment acceptance system, the presence of third-party advertising and the possibility of modifying the functionality to suit your needs. To remove restrictions on sites, you can select a specific package with a fixed monthly fee, the size of which is determined depending on the number of included options. Examples of website constructors for shareware mobile applications for Android, iPhone, iPad.

1. Appsgeyser.com (appsgeyser.ru - Russian version).

Now let’s look at how a mobile application can be developed in a few minutes using the example of the ibuildapp website. We chose this particular platform because it is very simple and easy to use. By the way, the iBuidApp resource also has a Russian-language version, which makes using the constructor even easier. Before starting work, register on the site. Next, on the main page, click the “Create” tab and select the template that suits us.

SELECTING A TEMPLATE AND CATEGORY

This site offers a fairly large selection of standard options, which can be found in the category catalog in the left menu of the site page. For example, we chose the “Photography” category and the “Photo Studio” template. After choosing a design and the appropriate category, we begin editing menu items.

EDITING CONTENT

The administrative panel of the designer opens up ample opportunities for editing menu items. You can change the background, add a logo, configure the navigation of the main and lower menus on the screen of an electronic device, and edit the contents of internal pages. By the way, on the right side of the screen you can see how the changes made will look on the screen of the electronic device. The builder also allows you to test your application on a tablet or smartphone. The finished program can also be published on the Appstore or Google Play, but this function is only available for paid versions. The site offers 3 paid packages costing 490 rubles, 2400 rubles, 3700 rubles. per month.

PAID PACKAGES

If you are not satisfied with the appearance of the templates available on the site, you can create your own design by clicking the “My Templates” tab in your account. The capabilities of an individual designer are quite limited; they allow you to provide the software product with only the most necessary elements.
Now it’s your turn to start creating applications and install it on your smartphone. Try it, it's quite simple!

“Today, only the lazy don’t make money selling applications for mobile devices,” says Google co-founder Sergey Brin. And he is certainly right! Mobile application development is a highly profitable business that can bring significant profits to its owner at minimal cost. And, despite high competition and tens of thousands of various applications in the AppStore or GooglePlay, starting your own small (or large) company selling mobile content today is quite possible.

According to 2013 statistics, more than half of smartphones worldwide run the Android operating system. Therefore, it is for this OS that all those who are just starting to explore the mobile software market should create their applications.

A few words about business legitimacy

So where to start? First of all, we should pay a few words to the legitimacy of the business. In principle, since 2012, any individual entrepreneur can legally make a profit from GooglePlay in Russia. The only condition is to have a dollar current account, into which your honestly earned money will come. Taxation in this case is no different from other types of activities and is 6 percent of the amount received into the account. Naturally, legislation does not stand still, and all innovations in the tax code must be constantly monitored. You can also work illegally, through intermediaries, but in this case no one can guarantee you the safety of copyright in the program.

Creating a working team

The work team is the basis and core of your project. It is the salary of qualified specialists that accounts for up to 95 percent of investments in this type of business. To develop sub-Android applications you will need:

Programmer (the number of staff depends on the complexity of the application and the speed of development) - estimated salary 10-20 dollars per hour;
. Designer - estimated salary 10-20 dollars per hour;
. Tester (optional);
. Marketer (optional).

The last two positions can be combined - the role of a tester can be entrusted to a programmer, and the role of a specialist in promotion on forums and providing feedback can be performed independently. Naturally, in the case of developing bulky 3D games or other resource-intensive applications, the list of positions will expand significantly.
The most effective way is to create a team of freelancers, thus saving on renting office space. The approximate budget for an application of average complexity is from $500.

Android Application Development - Basics.

Before you start looking for freelancers, you need to come up with the basic idea of ​​your future application. And this stage is the most important, because the popularity of the program’s monetization depends on it. The concept of a successful application idea lies on three pillars:

Uniqueness;
. Functionality;
. Maximum targeting to a wide audience.

It is necessary to conduct a detailed analysis of popular applications both in GooglePlay and AppStore. See what criteria people use to choose paid and free apps, and use them as a basis for creating your own content. For example, an application for downloading and watching videos on the popular ex.ua service has hundreds of thousands of downloads. Why not make its analogue for another service? In general, at this stage everything depends on a thorough market analysis and your creativity!

Debugging the application and publishing it on Google Play.

Before releasing the application into free floating, it is necessary to test and debug it. It should be remembered that the program should work ideally on devices with any screen resolution, and be maximally suitable for existing versions of processors and video accelerators working with them (in the case of 3D applications).

After testing, we decide on monetization of the application. There are two main types of earnings:
. Built-in advertising - the application has a built-in code that displays a small advertising banner in the desired part of the screen. Payment is based on the number of views and can reach 2 cents per view. The application itself can be downloaded absolutely free.

Paid application - in this case, the program is purchased by the user at a price set by you. Don't be greedy - remember that the cost of a program of 1 dollar will bring more profit than the price of 20 dollars.

In order to place an application on the market, you need to fill out a simple form and make a $25 deposit. After this, the program will be available for download with the parameters that you specify.

We combine debit with credit.

Let's summarize. To create a small application we will need to spend an amount of 500-600 US dollars. That is, to make a profit from paid software that costs one dollar, it needs to be downloaded more than 600 times. This is quite real. Moreover, with a small advertising campaign on social networks and thematic forums, you can easily reach 3-4 thousand downloads. Considering that development and debugging takes no more than a month, we get a net monthly profit of more than 300%!

Mobile applications have begun to play a big role in people's lives in the last decade. Their functions often seem insignificant, but, nevertheless, they help smartphone and tablet users solve various everyday tasks. Creating even a simple mobile application is painstaking and persistent work that takes a lot of time and effort and does not at all guarantee high profits in the future. However, truly high-quality and necessary applications can “shoot” in the AppStore or GooglePlay and bring their developers a lot of money. We invite beginning entrepreneurs to pay attention to the standard business plan for developing mobile applications with calculations, which is presented in this material. First of all, it will help you navigate the financial side of the issue and understand whether the game is “worth the candle.”

Investments at the start of a mobile application development business will need to be made in the amount of 350 thousand rubles. This money is quite enough to build a stable business in this high-tech field from scratch. The source of initial investment can be either the personal savings of a novice developer or loan funds received from a bank.

Brief description of the concept

A business creating applications for mobile platforms, an example of the organization of which is presented in this article, must be registered as an individual entrepreneur. The best form of taxation for such a business is the simplified tax system (“simplified tax system”) with a tax rate of 15% (income minus expenses). Declarations in this system are filled out almost intuitively, so the company does not need the help of a professional accountant. Processing financial statements is best done using online accounting services. Official registration of a mobile application development business will not be complete without selecting the appropriate OKVED codes:

• 62.0 “Computer software development, consulting services in this area and other related services.”
• 62.01 “Computer software development.”

How much do you need to invest in opening?

The costs that are inevitable at the initial stage of establishing a mobile application development business are presented in the following table:

It is not surprising that the main expense items will be the purchase of computer equipment and licensed software. The specifics of this business oblige the entrepreneur to pay special attention to the quality of equipment and software. After all, the equipment on which mobile applications are developed must simply work stably and without failures, and information must be well protected.

Production plan

The office of a mobile application development company is a compact room, the area of ​​which does not exceed 40 square meters. There are no special requirements for the office location. It can be located either in a modern business center or in a semi-basement in the old part of the city. The main thing is that all necessary communications and stable high-speed Internet are connected to the office premises.

An entrepreneur should also take care to ensure the security of the office, since it will contain expensive equipment and important development data. You can enter into an agreement with a security agency or simply install strong bars on the windows and a good-quality metal door.

Marketing plan

As for marketing and promotion of mobile applications for smartphones and tablets, everything is extremely simple - advertising can be ordered in the AppStore and GooglePlay at a very reasonable cost. Advertising on well-promoted YouTube channels also has a good effect.

The cost of one download of an average mobile application is 1.5 dollars, or approximately 100 rubles. Good applications quickly gain popularity among users, and it is quite possible that they can be downloaded 5,000 times or even more in a month. Accordingly, at this rate, the monthly revenue of the development company can reach up to half a million rubles, and the annual “dirty” income can reach up to 6 million “wooden”.

Staff

The work schedule of a mobile application development company is a standard “five-day week”, but with some features. As a rule, at the final stages of mobile application development, work goes on non-stop - seven days a week and almost without breaks. An entrepreneur should take this nuance into account in order to appropriately reward loyal employees in monetary terms. Below is the most optimal work schedule option:

• Monday – Friday: from 09:00 to 18:00.
• Saturday – Sunday: closed.

The list of mobile application development company employees is given in the table below:

№	Job title	Number of people	Salary, rub.	Monthly payment fund, rub.	Payment per year, rub.
1	Chief developer	1	40 000	40 000	480 000
2	Programmer	2	60 000	60 000	720 000
3	Technical support specialist	1	25 000	25 000	300 000
4	Marketing Manager	1	30 000	30 000	360 000
TOTAL				155 000	1 860 000

Calculations of income and expenses

You can see the list of monthly expenses of a mobile application development company in this table:

The profitability of a company developing applications for mobile platforms is shown in this table:

As our calculations show, the net annual profit of a company that develops mobile applications, after taxes, will be 2.8 million rubles. This is provided that the applications are of high quality and the development period for each of them is no more than three months. Accordingly, the profitability of this business will be around 47% - an excellent result for a young, ambitious company.

Possible risks

The mobile app development business is a very risky business. It is impossible to take into account absolutely all the pitfalls of this undertaking, and quite often the “sink or die” principle accompanies the creation of any application until the end of its development. Below is a list of the most obvious risk factors that could negatively affect the development of this business:

• Leakage of information about the features of projects and, as a result, possible “borrowing” of their concept by other developers.
• The need to attract additional funding when launching expensive or time-consuming development projects.
• Increased development time for individual applications, associated with additional costs.
• Insufficient level of qualifications of employees, their incompetence in highly specialized aspects of working on the creation of mobile applications.

In conclusion, we note that developers who are passionate about their work and create truly high-quality software products for mobile platforms never remain in the red. World practice proves this perfectly.

How many are attracted by the prospects that mobile application development offers us! People who have knowledge in this area earn good money, are respected and have status. It is not surprising that many want to join this society. But where to start your journey? How is application development for mobile devices carried out? What do you need to know and be able to do to succeed in this field?

General information

Mobile development is being created by a wave of new entrepreneurs who are capitalizing on their apps. Large companies in this market make enormous profits. This market is also attractive because mobile development on it can be carried out not only by large organizations, but also by individuals and small teams. The number of mobile device users has already exceeded one billion and continues to grow steadily. So everyone has a place to turn around. Fortunately, developing a mobile application for iOS and Android is not a sealed secret.

Preparation

Let's say a person has what he thinks is a great idea. He is confident that the created application will become profitable and popular. He finds out that its development will cost, say, 200 thousand rubles. But here’s the thing: hundreds of new applications appear on the market every day. Will his idea stand out among them? Will the investment pay off? Most beginners carry out superficial assessments such as asking friends and family, checking application stores, and other aspects of doubtful effectiveness.

After this, a decision is made (usually an optimistic one) and implementation begins. Luckily, mobile development offers a way to test the value of an app idea, called micro-testing. And before we look at the fascinating process of creation, let's talk a little about assessing realism.

Microtesting

This approach allows you to avoid failed ideas that seem excellent to developers, while at the same time making it possible to confidently talk about success for truly worthwhile ideas. Conventionally, there are three stages:

1. Creating a landing page.
2. Small advertising company.
3. Analysis of results.

Using small microtests like this can confirm or refute intuitive intentions.

Creating a landing page

This is an important step. Essentially, a separate page will be created where the application will be presented. It will describe its advantages, key properties, and list the problems that it will help solve. For best results, the landing page should be designed as if the application already exists. With the addition of a large button offering to purchase it in the store. It is advisable to draw several colorful drawings that will encourage people to take decisive action. At this stage, it is important to simulate the experience that customers will have when purchasing the application.

Small advertising campaign

Once your landing page is ready, you need to attract visitors to it. You can take advantage of free features such as sharing links on social networks, in various thematic developer groups, etc. But the most important thing is to launch a paid advertising campaign. After all, in this case, you can still calculate the level of return on investment. Even a small advertising campaign will allow you to get a clear idea of ​​how much you will have to shell out from your pocket to attract a potential buyer.

By the way, let's look at a small situation that may occur in reality. We created a landing page and launched an advertising campaign. To attract one user, we spend twenty rubles on it. Out of ten people, five press the button. Thus, we get a situation where one application installation costs us forty rubles.

Analysis of results

As soon as the first users appear on the landing page, you need to start tracking their behavior. Attention should be paid to how much comes in per monetary unit; time spent on the site; the number of people who pressed the button. To do this, you can use Google Analytics or something similar. To be fair, it should be noted that this test does not provide 100% reliable data. But his objectivity, compared to the admiration of friends and relatives, is much higher. It is advisable to conduct the experiment for at least several days until at least 20 clicks on the button are collected.

Scope of activity

Mobile app development is booming in several markets. The most popular are Android and iOS. Each market should have its own application. Thanks to microtesting, you can evaluate whether an idea is worth implementing. But where to start? If we talk about Android, then it will certainly help to win an audience - all over the world, including here, there are the most users of this operating system. But most of the money is made from iOS owners. It should be understood that these groups not only differ in their quality, but also in their requirements. Thus, an application that was able to conquer Android may fail in iOS. It is also necessary to consider how practical implementation will be carried out.

Which creation scheme should I choose?

There are three options here:

1. Mobile sites(web applications). In essence, this is simply adjusting desktop developments to the conditions of mobile devices. Their use is accompanied by significant difficulties in terms of earning money and certain inconveniences in terms of comfort.
2. Hybrid apps. This is a more pleasant option where you have access to an additional operating system programming interface, you can send notifications and place the product in stores. But at the same time, the main content is still located on the servers. This allows you to make cosmetic changes without releasing new versions of the product. You just need to upload them to the server. Overall, this is a good way to test a business idea or start a virtual entrepreneurship.
3. This is the most resource-intensive option, but it is also the most functional in terms of using the basic capabilities of a particular operating system. The logical result is that native applications benefit in functionality and speed compared to points 1 and 2. This is the approach of most companies, which are difficult to imagine in such a role. For example - Facebook.

But it was all a saying. Now we will move directly to the most interesting part. Namely, to create a mobile application.

Engineering/design

Initially, technical specifications for the development of a mobile application are developed. It must indicate all final functionality. Also, for better vision, prototypes are widely used. After the technical part has been agreed upon, a contract for the development of a mobile application is concluded. Moreover, it must necessarily include documentation containing all the requirements.

When design begins, it is necessary to take care of the principles for constructing the interaction of the application being developed with the user. For example, for Android we make square buttons, but for iOS they will be round. It is also necessary to create layouts that will display the logic of transitions. It is necessary to think about the distance of indents, sizes, visual effects, animation mechanics, etc. However, this stage can be skipped if the project has one designer and one developer sitting next to each other. In addition, you should pay attention to cutting graphics. It should contain the minimum necessary graphic resources so that the application does not become too heavy. Consideration should be given to the display for screens with different resolutions.

Implementation and testing

After everything is designed and there is a design, mobile development moves to the next stage. In this case, the application is handled by programmers. This does not mean that the architecture and user interface are already finished. It is possible that while working, an interesting idea will come to mind, and adjustments will be made to the original plan.

Once development is completed, testing begins. There are many ways to determine the quality of work. Conventionally, we can distinguish between mechanical and automated. In the first case, everything is handled by a person who manually checks on the phones how the application works. Automation involves the use of special services and applications. They can check work on different versions of the operating system or for compliance with certain rules. As errors are identified, they should be eliminated.

What then?

The development of the application for mobile devices has now been completed. It can now be uploaded to the store. For convenience, you can connect a specialized statistics service that will allow you to have an idea of ​​the number of downloaded applications and other user actions. By the way, you should understand that people are more likely to leave negative comments. If a person is doing well, then most often he will just use the application. But in the event of a significant error or problem after an update, for example, the activity of commentators increases significantly.

To correct the situation, you can implement in the program an invitation to leave a positive comment or write to the developer about problems. The effect of this is quite strong, the main thing is to think about this dialogue correctly for the user. And then the development of mobile applications is appreciated, but the shortcomings are ignored by the official store statistics.

What do you need to remember?

There are many different specific points. Here are some of them:

1. On every platform, the user expects a rich application. Therefore, mobile development for Android must be correlated with what is offered for iOS. Users do not take into account the fact that this requires creating an application from scratch.
2. The higher the popularity of the platform, the more competitors you will have. The development of mobile applications for Windows and iOS will give different results in case of success and promotion. Since in the first case the audience is insignificant, it will be easier to advertise your product and attract users. But his ceiling is very limited. Whereas mobile development for iOS will provide access to significant human resources willing to shell out money. Therefore, here you will have to compete with a large number of other people and organizations.
3. It is necessary to understand how a person’s choice occurs. Initially, potential customers are not interested in a specific application, they are simply browsing the list. An icon, rating, description and pictures - that's all he sees. If everything is decent, then why not use it?

Important social factors

The following things should be kept in mind:

1. The importance of the top. Getting into it is definitely good. And gaining a foothold in the top of the store is the key to success. Why is this so important? When a person wants to download something, he goes to the top store. And the higher the application is located in it, the greater the chance that it will receive one more user. This is a kind of vicious circle. That's why it's difficult to get there. So, the application gets to first place, many users see it, download it, it stays in first place and so on by inertia.
2. There is no way to communicate with users through the store. All that is available at the moment is writing a review, which is not very informative, although expressed colorfully (and, given the situation, negative), and a response from the developer, very limited in the number of characters. Therefore, it is advisable to explore the possibility of making contact. Otherwise - loss of reputation.
3. It is necessary to ensure a comfortable user experience with the application. Thus, the development of mobile applications for Android or iOS should always be accompanied by an indication of the minimum requirements for the devices on which they will run. It’s better to use software methods to limit people’s ability to get acquainted with the creation, rather than read bitter reviews about how nothing starts, doesn’t work, and crashes.

Here, in general, is everything you need to know about mobile application development to start your journey into this area.