How to develop large application stages. Stages of program development. How to calculate the cost of developing a mobile application

Dmitry Dementiy

Do you doubt whether it is worth investing in the development of a mobile application? You can do it yourself and absolutely free. You may end up with a test case that is useful for evaluating the effectiveness of a mobile strategy. And if you try, you will make a decent mobile application that will become the main tool for online interaction with owners of smartphones and tablets.

Just keep in mind that even the coolest mobile application cannot be the only promotion tool. The maximum result in terms of traffic and sales is provided only by complex Internet marketing.

Is it worth making your own mobile application

Costs. If you don't take the word for it, here are some facts:

According to Flurry Analytics and comScore, smartphone and tablet owners use the browser only 14% of the total time they use the device. And they spend 86% of their time on different applications.
The installed application is your direct channel of communication with the consumer. Just think: you don't need to spend money on advertising or wait for a person to find you using Yandex. It remains to maintain the functionality the user needs and provide him with relevant content.
The number of purchases made using tablets and smartphones is growing both on the Internet in general and on the Internet. According to the marketing agency Criteo, already in 2016 more than half of online transactions on the Russian Internet will be made using mobile devices.

If you prefer, the app is a mobile browser that only opens your site. When would a user install such an Internet browser? Only if he is interested in your product or information. Therefore, remember: the customer who installed the application is a loyal and ready to buy representative of the target audience.

In this case, is it worth the risk and offering loyal customers DIY applications, rather than custom-made programs for Android and iOS made by professionals? Let's figure it out.

When can you create an application yourself

Do you remember what website visitors need? They come from the content or functionality of the resource. People want to get information, buy something, see and comment on photos of friends, and so on. Mobile app users want the same. They are looking for information or doing any kind of transaction.

Do you remember when a business can make a website on its own? That's right, when there is still no money to cooperate with professionals, but there is time and desire to deal with WordPress or Joomla. The same situation is with applications. Self-created programs for iOS and Android can be roughly compared to sites on "engines" with open source.

You don't have to register to get started. Click the Create Now button on the main page or select the Create App menu in the upper right corner of any page of the service.

Choose the appropriate app template. If we are talking about a content project, you may be interested in the following options:

Manual. This template allows you to make a guide program.
Blog. The app will help your blog audience read new notes from their smartphone or tablet screen.
Website. The template converts the site into an application.
Pages. Using this template, you can convert any content into an application with simple functionality.
News. The template allows you to create an aggregator application for industry or regional news.
Page. The template converts offline content, such as an e-book, into an application.
VK Page and Facebook Page. Create an application that allows you to follow the updates of open groups on Vkontakte and Facebook.
YouTube. Use the template to promote your YouTube channel.

How to create a blog app

Use the Blog template. Enter the URL of your blog or RSS feed in the provided field. Choose a color for the title of your notes.

Please enter a name for the application.

Add a description.

Choose a standard or add a custom icon. A suitable image size is 512 by 512 pixels.

Click the Create App button to create the boot file. After that, you need to register in the system. Confirm registration and go to your personal account. Here you can install the application on your mobile device, publish it on Google Play and the Amazon App Store. The system also offers a monetization option. If you use this feature, ads will be displayed in the application.

Check how the app works on your mobile device. On a tablet, the program should display a list of blog posts in title and announcement format.

In your AppsGeyser account, you can monitor the number of installations, create push notifications, publish the app in stores, monetize the program with ads, and edit the app.

Want more apps? Then create a guide app using the Manual template.

After editing the content, enter a name for the application, add a description and an icon. Click the Create App button. After creating the boot file, install it on your mobile device and check if it works.

Please note that most mobile devices block the installation of applications from unknown sources by default. If a user downloads a program from your site or from the App Builder site, when they try to install it, they will see a warning about a security breach. Some customers will probably refuse to install the program.

8 constructors similar to AppsGeyser

If the AppsGeyser universal constructor did not suit you, pay attention to similar services:

AppsMakerStore. With the help of the service, you can create applications of different types: from programs for Ecommerce to solutions for content projects. The constructor makes apps for iOS and Android. The service interface is Russified. For beginners, there is an informative guide to using the constructor. The service is paid.
Mobincube. A tool for creating and monetizing iOS and Android applications. The basic functionality of the service is available free of charge. The constructor allows you to create applications of different types.
Good Barber. With this service, you can develop Android and iOS applications. The constructor is paid, the cost of using is 16 USD per month.

Most of the offered services have an English-language interface. If you are uncomfortable working with constructors in English, choose platforms with russified content.

Application builders: stone ax or thin modern tool?

Don't go from one extreme to another. With the help of the proposed services, it is really possible to create workable functional applications. The resulting programs can be used to solve various problems: from providing online trading to distributing content and educating the audience. Apps created in the constructor can be published on Google Play and the App Store, edited, monetized using ads or paid installs.

Do not overestimate the services offered. Their obvious drawback is stereotyped. It's about both design and functionality of programs. In addition, access to platforms with decent functionality is paid. Which is better: to pay once for the developers' work or pay for many years to the owners of the constructor? Count yourself.

And one more thing: if you do not have time to create a mobile application on your own, please contact our company. We are developing mobile applications, and.

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What you need?

Already today, when you contact an application developer company, you are faced with a variety of opportunities. A team of professionals will offer you not only to develop a custom app with a set of unique functions, but also to choose a methodology for managing the creation.

The traditional cascade approach is replaced by the energy-intensive and cost-effective SCRUM. When choosing a developer, focus on expertise, portfolio and work experience in your specifics, the presence of project managers and a QA team with a technopark (application testing takes most of the development time), as well as legally formalized agreements - the latter will guarantee your safety.

After a short tour of the team, Let's talk about the classification of applications:

Native - written in programming languages targeting only a specific Android or iOS platform. This allows them to be quickly installed and easy to operate, fully interact with the technical capabilities of the gadget and not depend on the Internet connection. Building a native app comes at a high cost and is therefore considered a forward-looking strategic step;
Cross-platform - an application that is created for several mobile platforms at once. Cross-platform development tools do not use HTML5, but third-party programming languages, the code of which is compiled into a native application for each platform. Cross-platform development is suitable for non-custom projects, and can be efficient and less resource intensive.

In addition to the technical characteristics, you can talk about the typical variety. Applications can be divided into the following groups- rather, your next app is already in one of them:

Entertainment (games, image processing, audio and video formats);
Helpers (search for information, weather applications, etc.);
Social networks;
I-commerce (the ability to purchase through apps);
B2B applications in the structure (internal control systems and organization of processes within the company).

Each has its own advantages and disadvantages, monetization methods and conversion potential - to make the right choice, first contact a business analyst and a technical specialist who will conduct an audit and provide recommendations. Let's move on from the big picture to the process of creating the application and the team that participates in this.

Mobile application development stages

At Artjoker, we prefer the SCRUM method, which allows you to implement the project not sequentially (stage by stage with lengthy approvals and improvements for a separate fee), but flexibly - different tasks are performed simultaneously, which allow you to assemble a ready-to-launch product like a Lego-constructor quickly and for a pre-agreed amount. Development is divided into three stages, within which the following works are carried out in parallel:

1Stage 1: Preparatory

Drawing up technical specifications for the development of the application. For template solutions, this stage is fast, but for something unique it may take time. If you plan to monetize the application in the future, then invite a business analyst to monitor market offers, as well as promotion specialists - the right advertising will quickly and effectively attract attention to the audience.
Development of UX (User eXperience - interaction experience) we prescribe user behavior scenarios, patterns of movement through the application and functionality. A usability specialist will promptly provide recommendations - it is much easier to tell how to do it than to repeatedly redo the structure.
Development of the "skeleton" of the application: navigation elements, lists, buttons, which will be supplemented by the main code.
Design development .

Command: project manager, UX specialist, designer

Terms of development: from 60 to 90 days.

Application creation is a clearly structured process, but systematic work can only be found with experienced developers.

On average, it takes about 400 hours to develop an app on iOS, and about 350 hours on Android. 20% of all work goes to QA (verification), the remaining 80% is allocated to the development itself, design, etc.
If the application implies server support and API integration, then the term increases by an average of a month or two.

Price:

On average in Europe (taking into account the CIS countries), the cost of the application is $ 80-100 per hour of work of an experienced specialist (cool developers take from $ 150-200 and this is considered an acceptable price, for example, in the UK). Australia operates in the same range. On average, for all work with European developers (including in Ukraine), this is $ 7000 - $ 9000.

The most expensive developers in the United States - their minimum is $ 50 per hour, and the maximum reaches $ 250-300. For comparison, let's take the Indians, who have a maximum price per hour of development - $ 80. Where does such a price spike come from? It's all about the expertise, which is confirmed not only by the number of works, reputation (articles, speeches at conferences), but also knowledge of English.

Summary

The most important thing in app development is not advertising or even a unique trading app. The main thing is the team to whom you entrust your idea and which will finalize and implement the idea with high quality. What is needed for that:

choose a qualified team;
fill out a detailed brief with all your wishes;
conduct a business audit of existing applications on the market (your competitors);
agree on the terms of reference with the stages of work, deadlines and budget;
give feedback on a regular basis.

Choose the best!

XXI CENTURY - the era of flourishing of mobile technologies. It is difficult now even to imagine a person without a mobile device, and even more so a business person. Mobile technologies are present in almost all areas of business. Mobile ecosystems change and evolve daily through constant experimentation. Hundreds of apps are created every day for business, education, entertainment, and more. Each of these apps has a specific visual style and tone, depending on the direction and context of the app.

But what does the process of developing mobile applications consist of?

This is, of course, an IDEA. At the very initial stage, it is necessary to carefully think over the meaning of the future mobile application and what it will be used for. Then you need to decide on which platform it will be used. As a rule, now applications are written for two platforms IOS and Android at the same time, but if this is useless, or in no hurry, then the company's specialists will help you make a choice in favor of one of the platforms after having analyzed the supply / demand market and competition.

2. TECHNICAL REFERENCE

Before starting the development, it is necessary to obtain the technical specification from the customer. If it is not there, then the customer is given a brief for filling out. Special attention is paid to this stage, since the technical specification directly affects the technical features of the result. At this stage, the following types of work are performed:

A description of the functionality of the mobile application is drawn up;
Development terms are determined and agreed;
Financial costs are calculated and a model of the settlement procedure is developed;
A contract with the customer is drawn up;

3. PROTOTYPING

In order to understand how the user will work with the mobile application, a graphical map of the interaction between the various screens of the program is created. At this stage, the development of almost all the functionality of the mobile application is carried out. At the UI design stage, specialists determine the principle of the application, the placement of functions and buttons on each of the screens. At this stage:

The functionality of the application is being worked out;
Application screen layouts are being developed;
Thinking over the connection of application screens and transitions on them;

4. DESIGN OF THE MOBILE APPLICATION

The design of all screens of the future application is created and various states are drawn for all scenarios of use. After the design concept is approved, internal buttons and icons are drawn, as well as all other graphic elements. As a rule, drawing the design of a mobile application involves usability research in order to make sure that the developed design concept is as simple and convenient as possible and will help users to solve the assigned tasks as quickly as possible.

5. DEVELOPMENT

The TK and layouts of the application design are transferred to the developers and they begin to "create". Programmers "transform" a static image into an interactive working model. The first version of the application is released.

6. TESTING

The mobile application undergoes thorough testing, as a result of which a table of checks is created in which all errors are indicated and described in detail. In the process of designing an application, it is impossible to foresee all the errors of real operation. At this stage, a list of errors, shortcomings and shortcomings of the application is formed and the deadlines for their elimination are determined. Then the application is released with corrected errors and, if necessary, with changed functionality, which is indicated in the tables after trial testing.

7. RE-TESTING

The application is installed on test devices, and works exactly the same as if it was downloaded from Google Play or AppStore. Before the application appears in the official program catalog, you need to make sure that users do not encounter development errors during the installation and application of the program. Therefore, at this stage, the logic of the product, the work of its server side are checked again, the application is tested in a variety of conditions and on different versions of operating systems.

8. DEVELOPMENT OF BRAND ICONS

The application icon is the "face" of any modern mobile application. The mobile application icon is an independent graphic element. The creation of this element is a multi-stage procedure with drawing an image in several sizes, as well as testing it on various device models. After the icon is approved, the mobile application is launched.

9. PLACING A MOBILE APPLICATION IN APPSTORE AND GOOGLE.PLAY

The application is submitted to the AppStore and / or Google.Play for publication. Each app is reviewed by the Google and Apple teams prior to publication. Publishing to Google.Play takes no more than a day, which, of course, significantly gains in time from the AppStore, where the publication of an application takes at least 7 working days.

In this article, we will try to reveal the main stages of developing a program written in any programming language.

Specification (defining program requirements):

At this stage, a detailed description of the initial data takes place, the formulation of requirements for the result is carried out, all kinds of program behavior are considered in the event of special cases (for example, if incorrect data has been entered), dialog boxes are developed that will ensure interaction between the user and the program itself.

Algorithm development:

At this stage, the programmer determines the sequence of necessary actions that must subsequently be performed to obtain the desired result.

If a situation arises when a given problem can be solved in several ways, then of course, many different variants of the solution algorithm are possible. Then the developer of the program, according to some important criterion (for example, the speed of solving the algorithm), makes the choice of a more suitable solution.

The result of this stage of program development is a detailed verbal description of the program algorithm, or a block diagram of the algorithm. You can learn more about how to develop an algorithm for any program by studying this article.

Coding:

After carrying out the specification and drawing up the solution algorithm, the used algorithm will eventually be written in the required programming language (Pascal, Delphi, C ++, etc.). The result of the coding stage is the finished program.

Stages of program development. Debugging:

At this stage, the programmer is engaged in debugging the program, that is, finding and eliminating errors. The latter are divided into two groups: algorithmic and syntactic (errors in the text of the source program). Of these two groups of errors, syntax errors are the easiest to eliminate, while algorithmic errors are difficult to identify.

The debugging stage is considered complete only when the original program works correctly and correctly with one or two sets of primary data. What is the compilation of any program and what basic tasks it performs, you can find out by reading this article.

Testing:

Testing a program is very important, because in most cases programmers do not create programs for personal use, but for others to use their program. During the testing phase, the developer checks the behavior of the program against a large number of input data sets, both correct and specially selected incorrect ones.

Help system creation:

If a programmer develops a program so that others can use it later, then the programmer needs to develop a help system and set up for the user easy quick access to this help system when working with the program. Modern programs have help information in the form of CHM or HLP files.

In addition to the help information, the help system contains the necessary instructions for installing the program. Usually they are presented in the form of a Readme file of different formats: * .doc, * .txt, * .htm. The considered stage of the program development will be described in more detail later.

Creating an installation disc (CD-ROM):

The developers create an installation disk (CD-ROM) so that users can independently, without the help of a programmer, install this program on their PC.

As a rule, in addition to the program itself, the installation CD-ROM contains help files and instructions for installing the program. It should be noted that most modern programs, including programs developed in the Delphi environment, in many cases, even by simply copying files, cannot be installed on the user's computer, since for the correct operation of these programs, the presence of special libraries, as well as components that can to be absent on the PC of a particular user.