Life cycle of Mobile application development

Mobile App Development

In all the application projects we have worked on, a constant trend I noticed is that mobile application development is like a black box, especially if you don't know how to code. If you are considering creating a mobile application for your small and medium business, you need to know exactly what it takes to run it. According to a recent study, approximately one in five SMEs has created a mobile application and many plan to launch one in 2016.

Mobile usage statistics tell a very compelling story for companies that are still on the fence:

1. Mobile applications account for more than half of the time spent on digital media consumption.
2. Smartphone users spend about 90 percent of their mobile time on applications.
3. 85 percent of consumers prefer native mobile applications to a mobile website.
4. Mobile applications represent 42 percent of all mobile sales for Fortune 500 companies.
5. Mobile application revenue is expected to reach almost $ 60 billion in the US. UU. In 2016.

Of course, even with all the evidence in favor of creating an application, the decision to move  forward should not be taken lightly. With approximately 1.5 million applications on Google Play and the Apple App Store, it is important to understand the process of mobile application development and how your  application will fit both your niche and your marketing objectives. That said, here is a look at the application development life cycle and the goals and challenges along the way.

Discovery, market research and development of mobile applications Tech-stack.

You may already have some good ideas for mobile applications for your business, and that is a good place to start. But before moving on to the design and development phase, your first step should be to deepen your research, your own business and your target audience, as well as that of your competitors. You will need answers to the following questions:

1. What do you want your mobile application to achieve? Where does it fit in your mobile marketing plans?
2. Who is your target audience?
3. How do you want your customers to use your application?
4. What platform (or platforms) will you use?
5. What language and mobile application development framework should I use?
6. What are your competitors doing? Do they have applications? If so, what features do they offer?
7. What is your overall application development budget?
8. What is your development schedule? When will you launch your application?
9. How will you promote and promote your application?

If you have not already done so, gather your application development team with members of the relevant departments (executive leadership, marketing and / or sales, product development, IT, etc.) and analyze the information you gathered during the investigation and the discovery. stages Feedback reported in these early stages will pave the way for a more fluid development process

Setting mobile application goals and objectives

This is a crucial step in the planning phase of your mobile application. Once you have determined that an application will advance important objectives in your mobile marketing scheme, you should plan how your application will take you there.

1. What problem (or problems) will your application solve for your customers?
2. What features will it include?
3. What is the main attraction of your application?

In many cases, determining the characteristics and benefits of your application is a balancing act between your overall application development budget and your internal capabilities. However, when it comes to prioritizing functionality, research shows that the design of  the application should emphasize customer participation over exclusive services.

Defining the backend of your mobile application

 Your wireframes and storyboard will serve as a guide for the back-end structures you will

 need to support your application: think of APIs, data diagrams, servers, data integration

 and push notification services. In many cases, SMEs find that choosing a mobile backend

 platform as a service (BaaS) makes sense, since they solve common challenges such as

 scalability and lack of internal talent. One caveat: you may need to modify your wireframes

 and / or storyboard if you find technical limitations in the backend development process,

 so you should stay flexible at this early stage.

 Finish your metal structure and test your prototype

At this point, you must specify any changes in your metal structure identified during the

backend planning process. Once your team has agreed on the wireframe and storyboard, 

it's time to build an interactive prototype. Prototyping is an essential step in the application 

development process, as it gives you the opportunity to really evaluate design concepts, 

collect comments and identify dead links and failures in the flow and usability of your 

mobile application. There are several good prototyping tools available online to simplify 

the process. It is a good idea to bring people who are not part of your mobile application

team to test and evaluate your prototype. Observe them while interacting with the application

and request honest comments about the general functionality and ease of use of the application.

Adapt the UI / UX to correct any deficiencies identified during this stage. Its objective is to 

finalize the design concept of your application and create a high fidelity prototype that will 

guide you through the actual process of application development.

Developing the application

The actual development of the application involves a series of steps and processes.

If you are not using an application development platform or a mobile BaaS provider,

your developer will have to configure the actual storage solutions, databases, APIs

and servers for the back-end of your application. Don't forget to set up developer accounts for the app stores that you plan to use to distribute your application, if you don't already have them; This step may take several days to complete

and it is easy to ignore. It is also a good idea to read the application store guidelines so that

your application is not rejected during the review process.

Now you are ready to move on to the programming and coding phase. If you have hired external

talent to develop your application, be sure to obtain a signed confidentiality agreement and establish a timeline for deliverables. Keep in mind the maximum of "contract slowly, shoot fast" and give yourself a quick exit if you are not satisfied with the capabilities of your programmer after the start of the project.

At this stage, your designer will create the "masks" of the application or the actual screens used

in your mobile application. These high resolution representations of your wireframes represent

the interface that your users will eventually use to interact with your application, so make sure

your designs incorporate all the ideas and comments collected during the previous test phase. 

After all, you are creating an application that you want your customers and target audience to

really enjoy, so UI / UX details are important.

Try and try again

This is an exciting time in the application development life cycle: it finally has a complete

application concept with exciting graphics and perfectly located text. Now you need to

rigorously test your application in a variety of real-world scenarios to detect and correct

any technical failure.Return to your original design and planning documents and review all functions; Don't assume that something works in the final concept just because it worked during the development phase. Again, it is a good idea to observe other users while testing the application; They may have questions and ideas that are not obvious to you since you have been involved in the development of applications since the early days. You may even want to use one of the online mobile UX test tools that give you real-time feedback and analysis; Several work in a freemium model that is

profitable for SMEs. Be sure to test cross-platform compatibility of images, graphics and user 

experience.

Preparing for launch

The steps you must follow to prepare for the launch of your application can have the greatest

effect on your final success, and getting your marketing department to participate early in the

process is one of the most important. Marketing will help you with keyword research, which is

essential for SEO and app store optimization (ASO), which are key to discovery capability. 

Your market research and keywords will guide your choices of titles and application descriptions

as you prepare to send your mobile application to different markets for distribution. You will also

want to get high quality screenshots of your application and even a promotional video and / or a

demo at this time. You will also need a website, or at least one landing page, to support and 

promote your application. This is important for the brand and awareness, and also for the search

and the ability to discover; The Google application indexing API uses content within your application and the website of your application in your search results algorithm. The key components of the landing page or the website of your application must include:

1. the name and icon of your application
2. Badges and store names where you can download your application
3. screenshots and your promotional video
4. a mailing list / subscription form (pre-launch) and download links (post-launch)
5. contact and support information
6. links to your social media accounts
7. a press kit
8. user testimonials and comments (post launch) 

Be sure to promote your application on your company's website and social media accounts; 

If you have a company blog, post updates throughout the development process to create interest

and anticipation. It is also a good idea to launch an email campaign. Depending on your niche

and the type of application you are creating, you may also want to have the help of experts and 

social influencers to help promote your application.